


Best Days, Worst Days

by TheSeeingStar



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Blumentrio, Bullying, F/M, Fluff, Fun, Hurt/Comfort, Murder, Old school discipline, Soltryce Academy shenanigans, Torture, Trent Ikithon should have his own warning, Young Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:48:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 90,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21903973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSeeingStar/pseuds/TheSeeingStar
Summary: They say your school days are the best days of your life. The Blumentrio may have a few thoughts on that.Lessons, life and love at the Soltryce Academy.
Relationships: Astrid & Eodwulf & Caleb Widogast, Astrid/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 45
Kudos: 86





	1. It All Starts Here

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been thinking for a while that I want to write a multi chapter fic, and since this has been going round my head for a while and we’ve had some recent canon developments, I think it’s time. Not sure how many chapters it’s going to end up being, and we all know where it’s headed, but there are huge gaps in this intriguing story that are just begging to be filled.
> 
> Astrid's POV, starting a few terms into the Blumentrio's first year of studying. Obviously it’s going to be dark at times, and so there are multiple warnings which I may need to update along the way. Caleb has been clear though that this was also one of the best periods of his life, so I hope to get that across as much as the angst. There will be some smut at some point, and given the ages of the characters involved and wherever you’re from in the world it may be underage.

_Raining again_ Astrid thinks to herself, sitting alone in their usual corner of the western turret of the library. Looking out of the lead-lined window over the soaked slate rooftops of the Shimmer Ward, the near deserted streets tell her it will be a while yet before Bren and Eodwulf make an appearance. Their last class is still in session, the campus largely quiet around her.

She always finds these moments of silence odd. The library itself is always hushed of course, policed by an unforgiving squad of jobsworth librarians whose sole purpose in life seems to be to hide around corners ready to whack noisy students round the head with dusty tomes. It’s in these moments though, when the silence spreads over the whole campus that the place is unsettling. Study periods are fine when you have company, but when your only two friends are still occupied by their introductory Divination module, she’s found the time can rather drag. The only other time she ever sees the school outside of the classroom is between classes, when the place is taken over by a heaving frenzy of students and teachers rushing to their next destination.

She opens her assigned reading book and tries to focus, but her attention soon drifts to the window again. The past seven months since they joined the Academy have been a whirlwind to say the least.

Her life had been so simple back in Blumenthal, not that she appreciated it at the time. At sixteen years old, everything had seemed unendingly complicated. Her studies, her family, their business endeavours, the social trivialities of her friendship group, her body, her emotions, the myriad of choices in her future. It had seemed so much for her young mind to think about. So when she was chosen for the Soltryce Academy, it was a joyous relief, not just for the achievement and the paths it opened up to her, but because it took away some of those more banal complications. It removed so much of her indecision.

Astrid had never once looked back as they left for Rexxentrum, and to this day has never found herself missing home. She wonders if that's strange, most of the new intake of Academy kids seemed homesick to some degree when they first arrived. She even caught Bren crying once, but she can't muster even an ounce of emotion for her own parents enough to pine. They're only a few hours away if she needs them, which she never feels she does so it's fine.

Her days now are occupied by a voracious appetite for learning, with impressing her teachers and fellow students, and with the desire to be the best at everything. Competitiveness is nothing new for Astrid, but coming from a small town with few who could match her in her strengths, the feeling of being truly challenged is exhilarating. And gratifying too, since it's become clear during the course of these first few terms that her talents fall well above the average.

Bren and Eodwulf are similarly gifted, and since they’ve known each other all their lives, even just peripherally as children, they’ve naturally drifted together during communal classes and free time. They test each other, compete against one another, and provide solidarity when it's needed. And it _has_ been needed. The three Blumenthal kids, plucked out of what she knows many paying students consider to be humiliating poverty, rising to the top of their class despite their uncultured upbringings, are quite a target. Still, it helps that they're quick on the draw and that Wulf, young as he is, is built like a brick shed. _Safety in numbers_ she thinks to herself, hunkering down at their little table subconsciously.

A bell chimes distantly from the Cathedral of the Dawnfather, signalling six o'clock, and finally an end to the week's classes. She instantly relaxes, then chastises herself for ever feeling uneasy in the first place. It’s not that she needs the boys exactly, more that they’re... a comforting presence in an unfamiliar world. That's what she’s determined to tell herself anyway. Glancing through the window again the rain still falls relentlessly over Rexxentrum, the once empty streets now beginning to heave familiarly with a mass of dark cloaked students, giddy with the excitement of a free weekend ahead of them, some running and squealing dramatically through the downpour as though a bit of water might kill them. It’s a world away from the rag tag kids she’s grown up with in Blumenthal. Wet and muddy has been the default setting all her life until recently, so the school's expectations for students to appear pristine at all times has been an adjustment to say the least.

She’s shocked from her thoughts by the table suddenly jarring towards the wall with a clatter. Before she even has time to snap her head around to identify the culprit, two hands are fisted in her cloak, dragging her up from her seat and shoving her back into the stonework.

"All on your own hick?" A familiar pair of amber elven eyes and a shit-eating grin fill her vision. Off to one side she hears the collective giggles of Ferdinard Matinfreid's groupies and the sound of her satchel being emptied unceremoniously onto the floor. The elf's fingers bite into her arms painfully as he holds her pinned, towering above her. Not for the first time, she hates that she’s so short.

"Haven’t you got anything better to do?" She hears herself say. It’s stupid, trying to stand up to them, but she’s tired of being pushed around and they’re getting worse. It’s ok when the three of them are together, even Ferdinard has been leaving them alone ever since Eodwulf punched him a few weeks back, but that incident seems only to have heightened the abuse when the elf or his followers manage to get any of them alone.

"I’d say clearing the place of riff raff is a worthy past time."

She’s not sure what makes her do it, hurt pride most likely in the heat of the moment, but before she can even consider the implications, Astrid finds herself casting Gust. Ferdinard releases his grip on her and staggers back as he’s hit by the blast of air that rushes through the space, only just able to keep his feet under him. As the air goes still again, his followers make a collective "ooh" sound of anticipation which would be humorous if it weren’t for the murderous glare the elf levels at her. That’s the exact moment she knows she’s made a huge mistake.

"Little peasant!" He seethes as he launches at her. She hasn’t a hope of running, though she tries anyway. He grips the neck of her cloak in one hand and a fistful of her hair in the other, hauling her towards the far corner. "We’ll see how far above your station you feel after I dangle you out of the window shall we?"

His words register slowly, but when they do she fights against him harder and tries to remember any spell that might help, hands scrambling to cast Catapult but misremembering the sequence of somatic movements in her panic. She manages to kick him in the shin, but he only stumbles as he throws her against the window sill.

"Maybe I’ll accidentally drop you. I hope you know Feather Fall hick." He hisses in her ear, beginning to lift her off her feet.

She catches a flash from the corner of her eye a fraction of a second before Ferdinard yelps and lets her go, staggering back as a fire bolt hits him in the shoulder. Her feet find the floor and she turns to see Eodwulf grab the elf by the throat, Bren following close behind with his hands still raised after discharging the spell.

"Ferdi-fuck. Getting your kicks from scaring little girls now?" Eodwulf growls in Ferdinard's face.

Astrid frowns at the unintended insult. "Thanks Wulf..." Bren glances over with a smirk. The elf's eyes go wide and he grabs at Eodwulf's hands around his throat.

"Every single one of you, stop what you’re doing this _instant_!" Comes the shrill cry of the head librarian, the white haired ancient looking halfling storming towards them past the aisles of books flanked by two dwarven assistants. Eodwulf narrows his eyes at Ferdinard before slowly unwrapping his fingers from the elf's throat and backing away.

"Mistress, we were defending our friend..." Bren begins, but is cut off by the halfling's hand raised to silence him.

"Hush! You can all explain yourselves to your head of year!"

*****************

Standing between Eodwulf and Bren in Master Starek's office, Astrid tries not to dwell on just how unfair this situation is.

"Master, he was going to throw Astrid out of a window, we saw her being attacked and acted to help her. Should we have just stood by and watched?" Bren argues. He’s been trying his best to argue their case for the past five minutes, but Astrid can tell it’s useless. Master Starek isn’t known for his patience, and she can see from his rapidly darkening expression that Bren is pushing his luck. Her auburn haired friend, being far too cocky for his own good, doesn’t seem to realise until it’s too late however.

Anticipating the beleaguered professor's reaction doesn’t prevent her from jumping along with the other two when he slams his hands down on the desk.

"Enough!"

Bren finally stops talking, pursing his lips sourly. Eodwulf winces. He can tell what’s coming just from having been in here a few times himself over the past few terms. _So much for proving we belong here_ she thinks to herself bitterly.

"Ferdinard has been dealt with, and frankly he should be the least of your concerns given your current situation." Astrid has to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from sighing. An extra assignment to be handed in by Monday morning on proper conduct on campus doesn’t seem like he’s been "dealt with" to her, but then she supposes that’s what happens when your father is a Zemnian Lord. Beside her, Bren scoffs, the teacher's nostrils flaring with barely checked rage. Eodwulf knows the score well enough by now to take the whole thing in his stride, standing passively to her other side.

The professor strides to a tall cabinet behind his desk, yanking the door open and retrieving a long thin birch cane. "Hold out your hands. Palms down." He orders. All three comply, though she notices Bren roll his eyes as he does.

The professor starts with her, her crime being considered the least serious of the three. He whips the cane up, the rush of air around it making a high pitched whine as he brings it down on her knuckles. She tastes blood and realises she’s bitten her cheek too hard, but it’s a small victory at least that she managed to stay quiet through the stinging pain.

"Casting unauthorised offensive spells at other students is strictly forbidden!" _But trying to throw them out of a window is apparently ok as long as you don’t use magic_ , she notes sourly.

Next he moves to Eodwulf, bringing the cane down on his hands three times. She can tell her burly friend tries, but he can’t help a strained noise at the last impact, his knuckles only just having healed from the last time they saw the cane only a few weeks ago.

"Always at the centre of trouble, aren’t you Eodwulf. You’ve been warned before. Physical attacks on other students are not acceptable behaviour, no matter the circumstances."

She swallows hard as he moves to Bren, knowing it’s probably going to be bad. Master Starek pauses as if considering him, tapping the cane against his own palm while he glares at him. Suddenly he raises the cane and brings it down hard, once, twice, three times, four, five... Bren takes ten lashes by the time Starek has finished. After the fourth strike, he can’t help his choked cries of pain, sounding more like sobs by the time it’s over. The professor calmly rounds the desk to place the cane back in its cabinet, and sits in his chair.

"Using an offensive spell to attack another student is bad enough, but to use a fire bolt in a library of all places was beyond stupid! You could have caused untold damage! Let this be a warning to all of you. Keep on causing trouble, and my punishments will become all the more inventive. And I am a very imaginative man, let me assure you. Now get out!"

As soon as they’re all out in the corridor, Astrid reaches to gently inspect Bren's hands. Neither her nor Eodwulf make any comment on the tears threatening to spill down his cheeks, both knowing he’s proud to a fault. He manages to swallow them down before they fall, even though just the simple movement of turning his hands over for her to look at them makes him hiss in pain. She winces. His knuckles are cracked and bloodied, the skin already swelling and darkening with bruises. She tugs her scarf from around her neck and casts prestidigitation to make it chilled, wrapping it around his sore hands.

"That should help the swelling. I’m so sorry Bren."

"It’s alright. It wasn’t your fault. It was almost worth it to throw a flame at that smug idiot." He manages a small grin despite the pain, and Astrid is alarmed to find herself blushing. She sees other girls looking at Bren appreciatively all the time, but she’s never really seen what the fuss was about. Not until now.

"Now you see why I punched him before." Eodwulf laughs deeply, giving her a welcome distraction from the butterflies dancing in her stomach. The three of them start towards their dorms in the east wing of the building.

"You heard Master Starek. After today it’s best we just try to ignore Ferdinard and rise above it. It’s not fair, but then life isn’t and there’s nothing we can do about it." She sighs defeatedly. "I’d best learn Feather Fall like he suggested..."

"We'll just have to make sure we stick together as much as possible so he can’t single us out." Bren shrugs. Astrid feels her cheeks reddening again at that, the prospect of spending more time with him equal parts maddening and inviting.


	2. Idle Thumbs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More early days at the Soltryce innocent cuteness from the Blumentrio. Love writing these guys. Prepare for blossoming friendship, a deepening crush, and a little sweet revenge... Enjoy! x

There’s a rare break in the clouds over Rexxentrum, and Astrid stares longingly out at the early spring sunshine streaming through the window of Bren and Eodwulf's dorm room. She hadn’t played with them much as children, being nearly a year older and from the other side of town, but there are few Blumenthal kids who have grown up without living the majority of their existence outdoors. No matter the weather, their mothers had bundled them up in thick woollen layers and rain, shine or snow, out they had gone almost every day. Now the boys seem content to lounge all day in their dorm at weekends, not even dressing if they can get away with it and certainly avoiding washing. They like their sleep too, she notes, regularly laying in until noon.

And so, with their efforts to stick together redoubled after Ferdinard's recent attack, Astrid finds herself stuck in the boy's dorm room wasting yet another perfectly good Yulisen morning, despite the very inviting weather outside.

She’s been curled up at the foot of Wulf's bed reading for two hours while the boys doze, when finally the lure of the sunshine becomes too much.

"Wulf?" She ventures quietly. No response. "Wulf..." She says a little louder. There’s a muffled humph from under the well worn quilt, but no movement. She rolls her eyes and reaches a foot out to nudge him. "Wulf!"

"What?" Comes his barely audible response from under the quilt. She grabs a handful of it and yanks it down so his head is uncovered. He groans, flinging an arm up to hide his still closed eyes from the muted light of the room, which is not exactly bright she notes.

"Let’s go and do something."

"...Why?"

She stares at him for a moment to ascertain if he’s serious. It seems he is from the lack of response.

"Because it’s what normal people do at the weekend? Because the weather is finally nice and we’re wasting it cooped up here in your stinky room instead of being out in the fresh air? Because I’m really, really bored of listening to you two snoring?"

"I don’t snore." Comes the sleepy response from Bren's bed to the left of them. The bed she very purposefully didn’t choose to sit on when she came in this morning because every time she looks at him recently her heart speeds up a bit and the prospect of sharing his bed space even completely platonically is a bit too much even if she does feel ridiculous admitting it to herself.

"You do. Astrid, he snores right, you’ve heard him?" Wulf grins.

"Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure." She says without thinking, her cheeks heating.

"Shut up Arschloch." Bren fires back at Eodwulf, blessedly unaware of her embarrassment.

"You’re an Arschloch." Wulf retorts. Astrid sighs, pressing a hand over her face.

"Boys!" She snaps after a few more rounds of their petty insults. Wulf moves his arm off his face to look at her, and Bren pulls his covers down enough to be able to see her too. "Please will you get up so we can do something fun today?"

************

Half an hour later, they finally leave the dorm wing and she gets to feel the spring sunshine on her face. The boys, trudging along behind her, seem less enthusiastic.

"What exactly did you want to do again?" Bren asks wrapping his coat tighter around himself. It’s still only early spring and despite the sunshine, there’s a chill wind whipping around the Academy buildings.

"Nothing specific." She answers, heading towards the east gate by impulse alone.

"So you dragged us out of bed to wander the streets of Rexxentrum with no specific goal in mind?" Wulf grouses beside her.

"Those beds were going to start absorbing you if you stayed in them any longer. And your sheets stink, when did you last wash them?" The boys glance at one another cluelessly, and she gets the distinct impression they might never have washed them at all. "You two are gross."

"If I’m gross, why has Mura Skellet asked me to be her partner at the spring formal?" Wulf grins smugly.

"Mura Skellet? With the big brea... brain?" Bren changes course last minute at Astrid's affronted frown. She notices Wulf nod and gesture to his chest, grin widening.

"Ja. Big _brains_ I'm going to bury my face in."

"Gods Wulf..." Astrid cries exasperatedly, Bren snorting a laugh just behind her. "You’re barely sixteen!"

"And? I lost it over a year ago to Emel Hindt." He states proudly.

"Emel Hindt? The butcher's daughter?" Eodwulf nods and she gapes. She glances at Bren who at least has the good graces to look shocked too. "She’s a year older than me..."

"With age comes experience." Wulf winks with a smirk. Even Bren makes a disgusted face, though they both end up laughing.

"Let's go to Eiche Park and practice our somatics? There’s a test coming up on Evocation in a few weeks and I’m not nearly ready." Astrid suggests as they exit the school grounds.

"You said fun." Wulf protests.

"Magic is fun. Not getting kicked out of school is equally fun."

"You are not going to be kicked out. You’ll do fine in the test." Bren tries to reassure her.

"It's alright for you, this all comes naturally to you, it’s as though you barely have to try." She sighs. She’s noticed she does that a lot around him lately... "I just want to do well."

"There’s a quiet spot in the trees near the pavilion barely anyone seems to know about, we can go there to practice. I can help you if you think you need it." Bren suggests. She smiles.

"Thank you. I’d appreciate that. Come on Wulf, you must want to fire off a few spells at least to show off?"

"Fine. I suppose I could do with practicing Magic Missile. But then after that, we’re doing whatever _I_ want to do, deal?" Astrid grimaces unsurely, but agrees anyway.

When they arrive, the part of Eiche Park that Bren suggested is as empty as he said it would be. Screened off from the vast open areas of formal gardens and grasslands, it’s a clearing in a little stand of birch and sweet chestnut trees set off a short way from the main walkway around the hexagonal park. Perfect for practicing undisturbed.

Eodwulf practices his stance and the gestures needed to produce Magic Missile off to one side of the clearing, sending a few volleys of the arcane projectiles towards the trunk of a large sycamore, burning dark scars into the tree. On the other side of the clearing, Bren and Astrid practice Thunderwave and Earth Tremor, never speaking the verbal components to send their spells, but going through the motions of the intricate patterns of finger movements.

Astrid knows Bren has a remarkable memory for these sorts of things, seemingly only having to see their professors draw the runes and patterns in the air once in order to be able to recreate a new spell. He’s unendingly patient as he runs through each rune with her, never getting exasperated when she gets it wrong and growls out her frustrations. _He’d make a wonderful teacher one day,_ she realises. He stands close behind her and takes her hand to show her one particular sequence she struggles with, and the butterflies in her stomach are suddenly back with a vengeance.

"So, thumb and forefinger together to draw _Sule_ ," he guides her hand into the correct pattern, "then add your little finger to draw _Feave_ , then your index finger alone to draw _Maket_." She feels his breath on her neck and bites her cheek to stop a sigh that threatens. "Now make a fist, and release." He grimaces as their still joined fingers ball and stretch, drawing his hand away to shake it out.

"Still sore?" She frowns. It’s been a few weeks since their painful trip to Master Starek's office, Bren's knuckles still carrying the scars from the cane. She finds she really wants to kiss them, shoving her hands in her pockets instead and hunkering in on herself. _Gods help me,_ she thinks, _I’m pathetic._

"A bit." He shrugs it off, flexing his hands. "You’re cold?" Her eyes widen a fraction as she realises he must have noticed her sudden discomfort. _At least he thinks it’s the weather and not him..._

"Nein, I’m Ok..."

"Here, I forgot," he opens the collar of his coat and she sees her scarf looped around his neck as he unwinds it, "I need to give this back to you." He wraps it carefully around her own neck with a smile that warms her more than any winter clothing could. "Thank you for letting me borrow it, you were right, it did help the swelling."

She swallows hard, struggling to form a coherent reply with him she close to her, so it’s almost a relief when from across the clearing Wulf yells "Get a room you two!" She and Bren both look at him startled, their friend grinning as he makes his way over. "Are you done practicing? I’ve used up all my slots and I’m starving."

Bren rolls his eyes. "Ja, I think we’re done. You’ll do fine in the test Astrid, like I said."

"Thanks. Ok Wulf, let's go get some food and then I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us this afternoon..." she says less than enthusiastically. Her large friend's answering smirk does nothing to make her feel better...

*************

Astrid hadn’t known what to expect from Wulf for their afternoon activity, but in her wildest dreams she would never have come up with this. Huddled together in an alleyway close to campus, keeping well out of sight of anyone passing by, Wulf eagerly fills a paper bag with flour and eggs.

"Wulf, this is mad. You heard what Starek said the other week about his punishments getting worse, what if he sees us?" Even Bren is worried, which is never a good sign.

"Run fast enough that he doesn’t." Comes Wulf's shrugged answer, as if this is the most obvious thing in the world.

"When we get hauled into his office again, there is no way I'm taking any blame for this. You’re on your own." She mutters, keeping a close watch on the street beyond the alley's shadows. She glances at Bren's knuckles, which he keeps subconsciously rubbing, and swallows hard. "How do you even know where he lives?"

"Thank you friend..." Wulf answers dryly, not looking up as he tips the last of the flour into the bag and folds it over to seal it. "I was on my way off campus one night and I saw him leaving, so I followed him."

"You _followed_ him?" Bren repeats, raising an eyebrow. "You know I’ll back you up with anything Wulf, but that’s a little bit creepy."

Wulf shrugs again, seemingly unbothered by the accusation. "Are you two going to help me, or are you just going to whine all afternoon? Grow some balls, live a little, it’ll be fun I promise." Picking up the paper bag, he grins and makes his way carefully towards the entrance of the alley. Bren and Astrid exchange concerned looks, but reluctantly follow him after a few seconds.

Across the street, a terrace of five wooden beamed houses casts a long shadow in the mid afternoon sun, modest and thin, but two storeys tall and well kept with a small cottage garden separating each dwelling from the cobbled road. Crouching as close to the wall as they can, Wulf points out the house to the left end of the row. It's moderately bigger than the rest, and has a small half-glass potting shed connected to its side.

"That’s the one. Pretentious fuck."

"You really don’t like this guy do you Wulf." Bren smirks.

"What gave you that impression... Now all you two have to do is use Mage Hand to get this over there, knock on the door, and drop it on his head, Ok?"

"Oh, that’s all is it!? And what exactly are you going to be doing while we’re assaulting a teacher and getting expelled?" Astrid hisses, thumping him in the chest. He folds his arms, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I’m overseeing. Teaching you how to lighten up, remove that stick from your arse, and have some real fun for once." He finishes with a haughty smile. She gapes for a moment before levelling a glare at him.

"I have fun!"

"How? Reading, studying... what exactly do you do other than that?"

"So what? You want me to prove myself by helping with your stupid prank? Fine!" She casts Mage Hand and has the magical extremity grab the bag of flour and eggs, glancing out at the thankfully deserted street as she whizzes it over towards Master Starek's front door, suspending it above the lintel, ready to drop. Bren hastily casts the same cantrip, his spectral hand appearing beside the door. With a sigh he uses it to knock, rapping three times on the dark stained wood.

As she watches the door swing slowly open, her breath catches, stomach twisting nervously. Master Starek stares out with a confused frown, taking a step over the threshold to look left and right in search of the source of the knock. Before she loses her nerve, she ends the spell, the bag dropping onto the top of his head in a direct hit. The paper rips open and the shocked teacher is immediately enveloped in a cloud of white flour dust, the powder smattering his clothes all the way down to his shoes. Through the billowing cloud around him, she can just make out a cracked eggshell on top of his head and a trail of yellowish gloop dripping down his forehead.

Beside her, Bren stifles a laugh behind his hand, and she has to admit the image is pretty amusing. Wulf grins triumphantly, chuckling to himself. She looks back to their beleaguered teacher, shaking with rage as a handful of onlookers making their way up the street stare at him, sniggering as they pass. With an angry flourish, he casts prestidigitation to clean himself, the cloud of white and the gloop disappearing immediately.

"Whoever is responsible for this, come out here this instant!" He all but screams, cheeks red with anger and embarrassment, a vein bulging on his forehead. She stares at him transfixed, fear and disbelief at her involvement keeping her rooted to the spot.

"Time to go." Bren whispers in her ear, pulling her to her feet. Eodwulf is already ahead, leading the way through the alley away from the teacher still yelling furiously behind them. Her knees feel weak, but Bren keeps a firm hold on her arm as they run, picking up their pace when they reach the open street on the other side of the thin passageway. Following Wulf, she finally finds her feet and Bren, seemingly confident that she can keep up, lets go of her as the three of them sprint through the familiar wrought iron east gate and back onto campus. They don’t stop running till they reach the safety of the boy's dorm once more, piling through the door and collapsing on to Wulf's bed, all three caught in a fit of breathless hysterics.

"Ok Astrid. You proved yourself after all." Wulf concedes, chuckling as he manages to catch his breath.

"Is that an apology?" She manages, still sucking in ragged breaths. It’s only now that she realises she’s landed between her two friends, and that what this morning might have felt excruciatingly awkward now feels completely natural and right. She wonders if they feel the same, because neither of them seem in a hurry to move either.

"I am sorry I said you had a stick up your arse." Wulf turns to smile at her. "But it is good to see you laughing for once."

"No more pranks for a while though Wulf, ja?" Bren says. He’s still out of breath at least, making her feel better about how unfit she is compared to Wulf who seems to have recovered from their run already.

"Ja, I don’t think my nerves could take that again any time soon." She agrees, chuckling again at the mental image of Starek covered in mess.

"Don’t you two back out on me now. You had fun and you know it. I’ll have you pulling pranks regularly before you know it, learn from the master."

She sighs, but the exasperation in it is only vague. Laying there between them both with a grin plastered on her face as her breathing finally begins to even out, she realises there’s absolutely nowhere else in the world she’d rather be right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference;  
> Yulisen is the equivalent of Saturday in Exandria for those unaware.  
> I made up "Sule" "Feave" and "Maket" as there are really no apparent names for the various somatic movements used during spell casting, but I assumed students might be taught basic names for each one so they can practice and to help remember them.


	3. The Count of Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one really ran away from me, so I’ve had to split it into two chapters as it just got too long. I had a lot of fun with this chapter, and as with any fanfic I’ve ever written, I'm learning a lot of random stuff through this thing. At least this early on my browser history probably doesn’t have me on a watchlist, but give it time 😉

"What do you want to do when we graduate?" Astrid asks distractedly as she attempts to disentangle an owl feather from her hair. Not for the first time since coming to the Academy, she considers cutting it shorter.

"I don’t know. What magical careers do girls find hot?" Eodwulf winks at her before bending over, ruffling his hair to remove the excess of iron powder from it. She rolls her eyes. "I’m kidding, I always liked the idea of being in the army. Bren's father has some great stories of his time serving, it sounds like fun."

Astrid flaps at the cloud he creates, grimacing at the new layer of staining it puts on her robe. With all the others, it’s not going to make much difference. Components class is always a messy one. Bren appears from the small cubicle of the boys shared dorm room bathroom, drying his freshly washed face with a towel. There’s still an ink stain on his cheek, but at least it’s faded now.

"I think I’ll stay here and go into teaching. Maybe do some research projects if I can."

"You want to stay at school forever? You’re a glutton for punishment Bren. I want to see the world, have some excitement in my life." Wulf strips off his powder stained shirt, dropping it on the floor beside his bed as he heads into the bathroom. Astrid can see why he’s so popular with the girls in their year, and the year above come to think of it, with his broad shoulders and already impressive height compared to most of the other boys, but she's never seen the appeal herself.

"It’s safe, comfortable, pretty well paid, and there's a huge library. What’s not to love?" Bren sits on the bed beside her, giving his damp auburn hair a quick rub with the towel to dry it. She tries not to stare as it sticks to his forehead and her mind starts to wander... "What about you Astrid?" He asks, startling her back to herself.

"What?"

His brow furrows distractedly and he leans in to rub at her cheek with his towel briefly. "Charcoal smudge." He says by way of explanation, sitting back up with a smile. "What do you want to do when we finish school?"

"Um... I don’t really know, haven’t thought about it much." She stands and starts heading to the door to hide her rapidly growing blush. "I’m going to get changed, meet back here in a bit?" She doesn’t wait for an answer, rushing out into the hallway to her own dorm around the corner.

After a quick wash and a change of clothes, feeling more composed, she’s ready to head back to the boys. In one corner of the room a group of four of the other girls she shares her dorm with are having a hushed conversation, and from the giggles and the looks in her direction, it’s clear they’re talking about her. She sighs crossly and storms out.

Returning to the boys dorm, she hefts the door closed with more force than necessary and flops onto Wulf's bed in a huff. Bren looks up from the book he’s reading on his own bed, Wulf poking his head round the bathroom door, shoulders still bare.

"Something wrong?" Bren asks, putting his book down.

"I wish I could sleep in here with you two." She answers dejectedly. She knows she’s being overdramatic, but sometimes the whispers and comments from the other girls in her own dorm get to her. "I know you two have had your own issues with your dorm mates in here, but at least you have each other. After lights out, I’m on my own."

"Then sneak in here after dark." Wulf shrugs, leaving the bathroom in just a towel slung around his hips.

She props herself up on her elbows, raising an eyebrow at him. "I can see that going down well with matron, especially if you walk around like that. It would be bad enough if she found me in here now, let alone after dark."

"Why don’t we all sneak out, keep you company till we’re tired, then sneak back in? Lights out is too early anyway." Bren suggests, coming to join her on Wulf's bed. He frowns in thought as he sits down. "What even is the point of lights out when some of us can summon Dancing Lights?"

She chuckles, already feeling a bit better. "It does feel like an oversight doesn’t it."

Wulf, who has been gathering clothes from various piles on the floor around his bed, doing the sniff test to determine whether they’re clean enough to wear, picks up his cloak from the foot of the bed. "I know an inn we could go to." He says as he dumps the cloak unceremoniously over Astrid's head. She gives a little indignant squeak and grabs at the material to pull it off.

"I wouldn’t, he’s putting his pants on." Bren says dryly. She stops moving immediately, suddenly glad for the lack of sight. A minute later the cloak is plucked from her head and she blinks her eyes used to the light again, combing her fingers through her newly mussed hair. A now fully dressed Wulf drops onto the bed to the other side of her to put his shoes back on.

"Suddenly feeling better about my own dorm." She can’t help a smile at his answering smirk. _Now if it had been Bren getting dressed_... she thinks to herself, smile widening.

"A tankard of ale will be very welcome after this afternoon's lesson." Bren mutters, laying back on the bed. "Dancing is not what I signed up for when we came here."

Astrid would usually be pleased at an excuse to dance, and their first formal only a few weeks away is an exciting prospect. It’s been the talk of the first year common room for months and is only a few weeks away now. The trouble is, much of the talk has concerned who's going with who, and since she’s not been asked by anyone, it’s been hard to feel too enthusiastic about it. At the moment it feels like yet another thing for the other students to use as social ammunition against her.

"It’s just one lesson. And you get a legitimate excuse to hold on to a girl for a while. What’s not to love?" Wulf sits up having finished tying his shoes.

She rolls her eyes at him again. "Do you ever think of anything but girls?"

He grins wide. "Girls, food and magic. What else is there?"

************

"Into pairs please and no dawdling. You’re meant to be learning, not enjoying, so it isn’t necessary to be with whoever your partner on the night of the formal will be. Just hurry into pairs and get on with it." It’s clear from her exasperation that Madam Verrin wants to be at this dance lesson about as much as most of the students do. Apart from a few enthusiastic individuals, the majority hang back, eventually trudging into pairs reluctantly and standing awkwardly apart.

Wulf makes a beeline for Mura Skellet, and despite her ample bosom being well hidden from view by her cloak, he still openly ogles her as he approaches. She giggles in response, pressing her chest against his and peering up at him saucily.

"A polite distance should be kept at all times, thank you." Madam Verrin gives them a warning look, and they move apart.

Wulf's determination to be partnered with Mura and the Blumenthal trio's lack of favour with many of the other students leaves Astrid and Bren with little choice but to pair up, which is both a blessing and a curse. Even Bren looks uncomfortable, but she puts that down to his dislike of the coming lesson.

"Now," Master Lodillus begins, obviously much more chirpy than Madam Verrin, "a good hold is the key to a good dance. Like so..." he stands with his arms in place ready for Madam Verrin to demonstrate the correct position, and with a small but visible sigh, she complies. A couple of the students titter at the display, but Master Lodillus seems unfazed. "Take your positions children."

With the hushed but audible noise of dozens of awkward and giggling teenagers, the dancers all take their places. Master Lodillus separates from Madam Verrin to go around the group adjusting hands and elbows where required, which turns out to be most of the couples.

Astrid steps into Bren’s very unsure arms. It’s unusual to see him flustered, such a departure from his usual confidence, and unexpectedly it makes her feel quite bold. She takes charge for him, placing his right hand just below her shoulder blade and taking hold of his left hand, raising their elbows and leaning back slightly in the hold.

"You know how to do this?" He whispers, surprised.

"My mother taught me. You know what she’s like, always aspiring for better. She seemed to think if she brought me up to know the basics of some higher class pursuits, I might marry up one day." She rolls her eyes. "My father agreed because it’s a Zemnian tradition, and because it kept her busy for a while."

"At least one of us will know what we’re doing." He sounds relieved. Behind him, Master Lodillus approaches, giving them a nod of approval.

"You’ll do fine, just think of the steps as a pattern or sequence. You’ll memorise it in no time and be leading me round the hall like a perfect Zemnian gentleman." He looks unconvinced but seems to collect himself nonetheless.

Master Lodillus bustles his way back to Madam Verrin in the centre of the group. "Well done everyone. Now the steps of a waltz go like so," the two teachers begin to dance, the slow and simple set of three steps familiar to Astrid. "Lead, left foot forward, right foot side, bring them together. Right foot back, left foot side, bring them together. Follow, you do the opposite. And again! One, two, three, one, two, three..."

Bren stares at her, looking overwhelmed and she chuckles, repeating Master

Lodillus' instructions slower as she guides him. "Bring your left foot forward. Right foot to the side. Then bring your left foot over to join your right. Then reverse it, right foot back, left foot sideways, right foot joins the left foot." He looks down at his feet the first few times they run through the sequence, awkward and stompy, but it quickly becomes smoother and he looks up at her with a small smile. "Not as scary as it seems, hmm?"

"Not with you teaching me." His voice, quiet over the din the other students are making, sounds almost reverent as his eyes fix on hers while they move together, and she’s sure it’s not just her wishful thinking. She clears her throat and looks away shyly.

"Try to keep your steps light, the waltz is bouncy, it rises and falls, lower on one, rise on two, lower on three and so on." She feels her elbow drop as she looks at the floor to avoid his gaze and forces her head up to correct the position. _Confidence_ , she tells herself, _we're just two friends learning to dance in a room full of awkward teenagers._

But as her gaze meets his again she’s not so convinced. She's sure she catches him looking at her mouth, eyes hooded and dark, his focus quickly snapping back to her eyes when he notices her watching him.

"Very good you two, wonderful effort!" The pair of them jump as Master Lodillus pats Bren on the shoulder before moving on to critique the next closest couple. Their step sequence interrupted, they both laugh awkwardly and take a breath before beginning again, the earlier tension evaporated.

"Are you going to the formal with anyone?" He asks nonchalantly, appearing to be focusing on his steps again.

"No. I mean, I’ve not been asked but I’ll still go."

"Yea, me too. At least we’ll have each other for company." He grins and she nods, distracted by the realisation that she never wants this lesson to end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spell components. They get everywhere man. Now there’s a fanfic idea...
> 
> Thank you for the kudos and comments so far, they are very much appreciated and welcomed!


	4. Mixed Signals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second half of this mega-chapter. It’s all kind of making me wish I went to boarding school. But you know, not this boarding school. Not a Hogwarts if Slytherin were in charge kind of boarding school...

With lessons finished for the day, and Eodwulf mysteriously missing in action, Astrid and Bren end up spending most of the afternoon study prep session before dinner in their usual spot in the library alone. With the library wardens on their usual high alert for noise and the three of them on thin ice after the debacle with Ferdinard, there’s never much chatter between the trio during these times. With tests and classes stepping up a gear as their first year grinds on, they all have a lot of reading and revision to wade through. This afternoon though, the silence between them stretches, and Astrid can sense that there’s some unspoken tension between her and Bren.

She’s about to bite the bullet and ask him outright if she’s upset him somehow, when Eodwulf swaggers in looking disheveled and smug. He plops down into the seat between them, stretching out with a sigh.

"How were Mura's big brains?" Bren asks seriously without looking up from his book. Wulf's grin widens and he drops his head back against the seat wearily.

"Full and round my friend. Full and round."

Astrid grimaces. "That is far more information than I needed to hear. I wondered where you went after dance practice, from now on, I will never wonder where you are again."

"Aww. Did you miss me?" He reaches over and grabs her in his arms before she can react, hugging her tight against his chest. She notices Bren glance over but he doesn’t say anything.

"Urgh!" She bats his arms away but ends up laughing anyway. "I dread to think what bodily fluids you have on you right now."

He lets her pull away with a smirk. "Yea, best not to dwell on that. Are we still on for tonight?" She nods without hesitation, and wonders when exactly she became such a rebel. "Good girl. Bren?"

"I’m in."

"Excellent. The perfect end to the perfect day."

At dinner, with less chance of being overheard or whacked round the head with a book, they discuss their plan in more detail, working out where to meet, when to leave and what route to take to stand the best chance of avoiding any patrolling overnight staff. Unsurprisingly to Astrid, it turns out Eodwulf is pretty well practiced in sneaking out at night.

When matron calls lights out that evening, it’s less than a minute before someone casts Dancing Lights and a dim warm glow illuminates the interior of the dorm once more.

There are eight beds to a dorm in the first year quarters, and none of their occupants give Astrid more than a polite nod every once in a while. She overhears them talking about her regularly, gossip about where she’s from, her friendship with Bren and Eodwulf, the way she looks and dresses, even her weight. It's awful if she’s honest, and if she could get away with sleeping in with the boys there are plenty of nights she's genuinely considered it.

So as the time for her departure grows nearer, it occurs to her that there is nothing at all stopping any of the other girls in the room from running to tell matron if they see her go. In fact, they’d probably delight in her being disciplined because of them. Luckily, tonight all seven of them are crowded on the two beds at the furthest end of the room from her, and consequently the magical light of their spell is dimmed where she is, giving her at least some chance of escape.

As quietly as she can, she begins to place pillows and blankets under her quilt, making it look as though she’s huddled up asleep if matron comes in to check. Since she’s never involved in the social antics of the other girls, it shouldn't be too suspicious to assume she’s gone to sleep early.

Getting out of the door without them noticing however, is a whole different problem. After some thought, and wanting to keep her spell slots free just incase, she decides to cast Minor Illusion. Closing her eyes, she imagines the noise of small pebbles rattling against the window closest to the seven other girls, as though someone outside at ground level were trying to get their attention. As soon as the noise begins the girls are intrigued, hurrying to the window to look out at the moonlit courtyard below. As quietly as she can, she grabs her cloak and heads for the door, managing to open it and slip out without them noticing.

Triumphant, she tiptoes her way down the dark corridor and around the corner, where she bumps into the solid wall of muscle that is Eodwulf. He grins down at her, as does Bren behind him, and silently they begin to make their way through the maze of hallways to the ground floor, using the much less frequently patrolled service stairs through a panel door on the main landing. Wulf had been very proud of himself while explaining how he’d worked that trick out a few months ago. Something to do with a blonde half elf with a penchant for late night outdoor rendezvous if Astrid remembered correctly. She’d only been half paying attention - his more long winded explanation had included details she had neither wanted nor needed to hear.

The service stairs lead out onto a corridor she’s not seen before, running behind the dining hall and kitchens. "This way." Wulf whispers, leading them into the kitchen itself. Along the back wall, beside a huge larder stocked with row upon row of enormous glass and earthenware jars, a wide, thin window sits about five feet up. Wulf unlatches it and swings it open, gesturing for them to climb through. Bren grabs the sill first and hoists himself up. Ducking through the frame confidently, his hand slips at the last second and he disappears from view, a muffled thud sounding a second later accompanied by a grunt.

She stands on her toes to see if he’s ok, Eodwulf behind her having to stifle his laughter with his fist. Bren gets quickly to his feet, dusting himself down and shooting a glare at Wulf. He holds a hand out to her, helping to pull her up the wall. She squeaks as Wulf's large hands grasp her round the waist, hoisting her the rest of the way up. She manages to drop to her feet with some semblance of grace on the other side of the window, Bren hovering close in case she needs assistance. Wulf swings down beside them without issue, grinning smugly at Bren.

They stick to the cover of the heavily shadowed buildings as best they can as they cross the grounds, heading for the smallest, least auspicious gate of the complex to the north side of campus. Ducking into an alcove in sight of the gate, Wulf beckons them to follow him.

"How's your Disguise Self coming along?" He whispers, barely visible in the dark space.

"You didn’t think to ask if we both had it prepared before attempting this?" Bren questions quietly.

"We had Illusion class this morning, it was a fair assumption. So, do you?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Then stop complaining and make yourselves look like teachers." She can practically hear Wulf rolling his eyes. She casts the spell, hearing Bren do the same under his breath beside her.

"Do you not have it?" She whispers to Wulf, not hearing him muttering the verbal components.

"No."

"Then what are you going to do?" She asks.

"Pull up my hood and make out like I’m meant to be here. Confidence alone can get you surprisingly far." And with that, she hears him stride out onto the path towards the gate. She grabs Bren's arm and pulls him out with her, taking a deep breath before following Wulf, trying to walk as though she really is Madam Feroth the transmutation teacher, and not a first year student making an audacious escape attempt.

With a number of their professors well known for working late on personal research projects, they exit the grounds unhindered, Astrid not really believing it until they’re a few streets away. She lets out a deep sigh of relief.

"Gods we actually did it..."

"You two are so cute." Wulf laughs. "Don’t drop your spells just yet, you’re buying when we get to the inn."

***********

Two hours and three tankards of ale later, Astrid is pretty sure she won’t make it back to campus without falling over, let alone manage to sneak back into the building. Bren is in a similar state, so she reasons that at least she doesn't have to feel too embarrassed. They stumble out of the inn together into the deserted streets, loudly hushing each other as they laugh at their unsteadiness.

"We can’t go back like this." She giggles, holding Wulf's arm for balance. "What are we going to do?"

"We need to sober up a bit. Fresh air is good, we’ll just stay out for a while." Bren surmises, with a half shrug half trip. "My father told me he does it when he has too much to drink and doesn’t want my mother knowing. Just goes and lays in our top paddock for a bit."

"So we go and lay in a park for a while. Sounds good to me." She agrees, before realising she doesn’t have a clue where the nearest park is. Luckily, Eodwulf apparently does because he heads off up a gently inclining street to the west, leaving the others to catch up.

Within minutes they reach a large tree lined green amongst the low buildings of The Tangles, the old city area that Wulf informs them they are currently in. She remembers shopping here for school supplies a few times, though the streets all seem a blur now. A few dozen feet past the tree line, they all three topple to the ground in a pile.

Astrid turns onto her back and looks up at the sky. It’s bright with stars tonight, and looking up into the depths of its vastness makes her feel even more dizzy than she did when she was upright.

"How far away do you think they are?" She asks, not really expecting a response.

"Who?" Asks Wulf, slurring.

"The stars!" She points to them in case he doesn’t know that stars frequent the sky. "How far away do you think the stars are."

"Fuck knows." Comes his eloquent response. She tuts at him, smacking him noncommittally on the shoulder.

"I read a book about that once. They worked it out, the great scientists of the Age of Arcanum. It was a very long way. Millions and millions of miles." Bren finishes with a yawn, and she feels him give himself a little shake to stay awake.

"Very interesting. And on that note, I need a piss." Wulf struggles to his feet and begins to stumble off towards the trees.

"Nice..." She snorts.

"You know, they say this planet spins around on its axis so incredibly fast, it’s amazing that we can’t actually feel it." Bren lifts a hand, as though he’s trying to poke the stars in the sky, lowering it to cover his eyes with a groan after a few seconds. "After a few ales though, it feels very much like it's spinning..."

She chuckles at him, taking his other hand in hers in an effort to ground him. "Head of the Assembly. Or maybe just an Arch Mage, if I had to settle." She says out of the blue.

"What?" He moves his hand from across his eyes to peer at her confusedly.

"You asked me earlier today what I want to do when we finish school." She grins at him.

"Wow. Ambitious." He nods appreciatively. The silence between them stretches for a moment, but she’s ok with that, enjoying staring up at the beautiful sky.

"Astrid?" Bren says suddenly.

She turns her head towards him again. "Mm?"

He rolls onto his side, propped up on one elbow to look at her. "I really enjoyed dancing with you today."

A warm feeling sweeps over her and she smiles. "I enjoyed dancing with you too."

She can’t see his face very clearly in the dark, but she can just make out his eyes considering her curiously, before he very slowly begins to lean in towards her. Her brain is running slow with the alcohol and it takes a moment for her realise he’s going to kiss her, her breath faltering as the tip of his nose brushes hers. And then all of a sudden, he stops and pulls away, sitting up to scrub a hand through his hair.

"Sorry. That was wrong of me. I know you have a thing for Wulf, I’m just... drunk... I’m not thinking straight."

It’s all so sudden she can’t process it quickly enough. "What?" She follows him in sitting up, staring at him in bewilderment. "You think... why do you think I like Wulf?"

"I don’t know..." he mumbles with a shrug. "He’s Wulf, lots of girls like him... You always sit on his bed when you come to our dorm, you get all cross when we talk about Mura Skellet's breasts, you’re fine with him but you get really uncomfortable around me...You practically ran out of the room earlier at the first chance you got when he was half naked, then when you came back and he got dressed you had this weird dreamy smile on your face..."

She falls back into the grass laughing, and really it’s not funny at all, it’s hideously embarrassing, but she can’t stop herself. She hears Bren make a sound almost like a growl and tries to sit up again as she feels him shift beside her. By the time she flails her arms enough to get her balance and sits upright, he’s already stalking off through the gloom.

"Bren! Come back. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh..." He ignores her and continues past the trees back out to the street, disappearing from view.

"Gods, I leave you two alone for one minute and you end up having a fight." Wulf remarks as he comes up behind her. "What happened?"

"I’m an idiot." She wails, flopping down into the grass again. "Why did you let me drink so much, I’m really drunk!"

"You didn’t drink that much, didn’t your parents ever let you drink at home?"

"No! It’s not becoming of a young lady." She whines, groaning. "I feel sick Wulf."

He sighs, taking her hands and slowly hauling her to her feet. "I thought your father liked traditional Zemnian past times. If that’s not drinking a bellyful of ale I don’t know what is... Come on, let’s get you back to school. And if you are going to be sick, aim it away from me, ja?"

By the time they arrive at the gate and hastily make their way through, back to the relative safety of the shadowy buildings, her head feels clearer but her heart feels heavy. She tries to swallow down the lump in her throat but it sticks painfully, and she lets out a little sob. With a mumbled curse, Wulf pulls her into a recess between their accommodation building and the assembly hall.

"For the love of the Gods Astrid, stop crying. If we get caught because you’re an emotional drunk..."

"He hates me." She sniffles. "He's never going to forgive me."

"Well that’s ridiculous. He probably won’t even remember tomorrow..."

"What if he didn’t make it back? What if he was murdered in the street?" She looks up at him wide eyed, wiping her damp cheeks on her sleeve. "It’s all my fault."

"Astrid." He whispers exasperatedly, placing his hands on her shoulders and shaking her gently. "Pull yourself together. It’s just the alcohol making it seem worse than it is. Let’s go inside, get some sleep, I promise you everything will seem better in the morning."

She nods, sniffing. "You’re a good friend Wulf."

"Yes I am." He mutters, taking her hand to lead her back to the kitchen window. She’s surprised to find she makes a pretty good job of the climb back through, only falling a little way. As they climb the service stairs and reach the corridor their dorms are on, she finds she feels suddenly exhausted. While she leans against the wall yawning, Wulf pokes his head in the door of his and Bren's dorm.

"There, he’s fine. Sleeping already. Now go to bed." He shoos her off in the direction of her dorm and slips into his own.

As she approaches her door, she realises Wulf was lying to make her feel better, or at least to get her to go to bed and stop making a scene, because Bren is sitting on the floor of the corridor with his back against the wall and his head in his hands. She sits beside him, breathing through a fresh bout of dizziness.

"I’m sorry." She says barely audibly. "I wasn’t laughing at you, I promise."

"What were you laughing at then?" He asks sourly.

"I was laughing because you got it so wrong. I like _you_ , not Wulf." She smiles shyly at him, feeling emboldened by the alcohol and the exhaustion. He stares at her for a minute, his expression unreadable.

"But you’re so uncomfortable when you’re near me?"

"Because I was trying to hide it. It’s embarrassing, the way you make me blush and have stupid daydreams... I shouldn’t be telling you this." She leans her head back against the wall with a deep sigh. "Have you never had a crush?"

"Ja. On you." She opens her eyes and looks over at him, a familiar flush heating her cheeks. This time when he leans towards her, he doesn’t pull back at the last minute, and their lips meet briefly in a soft, sweet kiss. She smiles when he moves away, resting his forehead against hers for a moment. She's about to kiss him again but her body betrays her as she yawns. With a soft laugh, he kisses her cheek and pulls her to her feet, reaching out to grasp the wall as he stumbles slightly.

"Go to bed Schatz. I’ll see you in the morning."

She finds his hand in the dark and gives it a squeeze before crossing the hall to her door, turning the handle as quietly as she can. "Good night." She grins sleepily, slipping into the room. Her steps are wobbly as she walks to her bed, and she’s not sure if it’s the alcohol or the way Bren's kiss made her legs feel like jelly. She surmises it’s probably the ale, but slipping her cloak off and getting under the covers fully clothed, she's too happy to care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh teenage kicks...
> 
> I really feel for Wulf here. A great day of boobs and beer, rounded off by an emotional drunk and his besties pairing up. Eek.
> 
> There are a few very subtle nods to episode 89 in here, which were such wonderful fluff I just couldn’t not add them in. Let me know if you spotted them.


	5. In the Eye of the Beholder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your lovely comments so far! They are enormously appreciated 😍

When Astrid wakes the next morning, her head feels like her brain is trying to force itself out of her skull, her pulse painfully loud in her ears. Drifting in and out of a fitful sleep, she hears the morning preparations of the other girls in the dorm, and the sound of the door opening and closing as they leave one by one for classes. Next thing she knows she’s stirred awake by the bells marking the start of morning lessons, their shrill chimes ringing harshly through her sensitive head.

As she lays there trying to work up the will to at least try to get up, the door opens again, a pair of familiar low heeled boots clip clopping swiftly over to her bedside.

"Miss Astrid. You appear unwell. Whatever is the matter?" The unsympathetic drawl of Matron reaches her ears, muffled through the quilt.

"A stomach bug I think." She replies weakly, pulling the covers down from over her head.

"Mhmm..." Matron presses a hand to her forehead none too gently. Astrid winces. "No fever. How curious." The woman roughly yanks the quilt back further. "And you appear to be fully dressed. Why is that?"

Astrid forces her eyes open, looking up at the sour mouthed greying elven old bat. "I dressed ready for class but was too ill to make it out of the room." She answers, impressed with her ability to think on her feet despite feeling like death warmed up. Matron squints at her disbelievingly.

"How unfortunate that Master Bren seems to have a similar complaint just this morning too, and that Master Eodwulf looked decidedly green around the gills when I saw him scuttle out to class earlier. A remarkably sad coincidence."

"We... spend a lot of time together, we must all have the same bug." She offers, knowing it’s a weak explanation.

"It is a day for odd coincidences it would seem. Three as yet unidentified students were spotted sneaking back onto campus late last night as well. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?"

She shakes her head, trying her best to look innocent. A fresh wave of sickness rolls in her stomach and she bites back a whimper. "No Matron."

"Of course not." The old woman smiles coldly. "Well Miss Astrid, since I can detect no sign of fever in you I am quite certain you are well enough to attend class today after all, just as I informed Master Bren of the same not ten minutes ago. Joyous news I’m sure you’ll agree. You will therefore join your fellow students within the next quarter of an hour. Understood?"

Astrid nods, wincing. _Scheisse_.

Her first class of the day is Enchantment Theory, which entails a lot of listening to the very dull, monotonous ramblings of Master Hilltopple, and taking down copious notes. Not too challenging and his voice is quiet at least.

The walk to class is torture however, the day beautiful and bright with spring sunshine, and the class right on the other side of campus. She walks clutching her satchel to her stomach with one hand, her other hand on her brow shielding her eyes from the harsh light. _Never drinking again_... she repeats over and over in her head, taking deep breaths to calm her churning stomach.

Eventually she makes it, slipping in to class as quietly as possible and gingerly taking her seat. Bren is already there, looking considerably more disheveled than usual, head leant in his hands on the desk. Eodwulf looks half asleep, though in this class that’s nothing unusual. Since none of them want to pursue a career in enchantment after school, it’s not a subject any of them are particularly enthusiastic about.

Their seats are assigned alphabetically, and while Wulf is a few seats away, Bren at least is next to her. He looks up, giving her a small pained smile. She smiles back and takes his hand under the desk, then has a moment of panic hoping she didn’t dream their kiss last night. He laces their fingers together and gives her hand a squeeze so she figures it must have been real after all, and that cheers her up considerably.

Somehow they make it through all their morning classes, and forfeiting the usual canteen lunch, the three friends head to the relative quiet of the boy's dorm. She makes a point of sitting on Bren's bed instead of Wulf's, and while she’d like to acknowledge the significance by smiling radiantly or sharing a poignant look with him, all she can manage is a pathetic groan as she flops face first into his pillow.

"You look how I feel." Wulf says from his own bed.

"You cannot feel as bad as this, you hardly look ill at all. How do you do it?" Bren asks, voice hoarse as she feels him sit by her feet.

"Practice."

"Matron knows what we did last night." She mumbles into the pillow. "What will they do to us?"

"I think making us go to class when we feel this shit is probably punishment enough, we should get away with it." Wulf sounds confident so she chooses to agree with his very positive assessment.

The day drags on but gradually she starts to feel better. By dinner she manages to eat, and as the evening draws in, her headache finally subsides. She spends the last hour before lights out with the boys laughing quietly about their antics the night before, or what they remember of them at least.

By the time she needs to head to her own dorm, she feels exhausted. "I’m going to head to bed, sleep the rest of this thing off. See you tomorrow."

"I’ll walk you." Bren jumps up eagerly, following her to the door. Wulf raises an eyebrow suspiciously, but bids her goodnight without questioning it. She’s sure Bren will get the third degree from him as soon as he returns, and with the amount of time they all spend together, there’s no chance of any of them keeping a secret.

When they reach her door, she looks up at him shyly. "So..."

"So..." he repeats and they share a laugh at their awkwardness.

"Are we... together now?"

"Would you like us to be?" She can tell he was aiming for nonchalant but he sounds more nervous than she’s ever heard him. It's a welcome boost to her confidence.

"Yes. Would you?"

"Yes." He tentatively places his hands on her waist and presses his lips to hers, soft and gentle.

His mouth slants and moves slowly over hers and she follows his lead, assuming he has more experience since she’s never kissed anyone before and she knows from the idle gossip of her friends back in Blumenthal that he’s had a few encounters with girls. She remembers Gilda Webler rushing excitedly to tell them all that he’d been caught kissing Reta Hahn and her mother had chased him down the street brandishing a ladle. Whether that was true or not she doesn’t know, nothing much ever happens in Blumenthal and as a result, gossip is often exaggerated when anything remotely exciting occurs.

She forces her distracted mind back to the present, hoping her kissing is not so awful he’ll change his mind about being with her, because she’s really quite enjoying it. She lets out a contented little sigh, and when he pulls back she’s relieved to see he's smiling bashfully. Seeing him like that makes her stomach flip, and feeling brave all of a sudden, she flings her arms around his neck and pulls him back in. This time he opens his mouth as they kiss and she feels his tongue probe her lips. She follows his lead, and while the slide of his tongue against hers is wet, slightly awkward, and should be a little bit disgusting if she thinks about it, she can’t think too hard because it feels amazing.

She's startled back to reality by a splash of cold water over her head, and they jump apart in shock. Matron stands a few feet away with a face like thunder, and they really should have remembered she’d be coming along the corridor soon for lights out. She holds a now empty tankard in one hand, shaking it threateningly at them.

"You two are on thin ice already! Go to bed!"

With one last look at him, she stifles a laugh and ducks into her dorm as he takes off for his. The other girls all stare at her as she shuts the door and leans back against it with a sigh, and she can only imagine what they think of her, but she's too happy to care.

***********

The next few weeks go by in a blur. With spring tests on the horizon their classes become more intense, study periods replaced by extra prep sessions, and almost every spare moment is taken up with revision. There’s little chance for her to spend time alone with Bren, and all they manage are a few snatched moments that are all too short. Any dread she previously felt about the upcoming formal is well and truly gone now, with the prospect of spending a whole evening dancing with him.

One evening after lights out, just a few days before the formal, her room mates are showing off and making last minute alterations to their dresses when it strikes her that hers is really quite plain in comparison. And not just plain, the crude stitching and old fashioned design shows it to have obviously been made by her mother, and really its slightly small for her now. She starts to have doubts, but she can’t afford to buy anything better and it’s far too late to even attempt to alter it so fundamentally now. She wouldn’t have cared before but now that she and Bren are together she finds herself feeling more insecure about her appearance. She’s hardly a beauty, thinking herself to be average at best, and with his lovely eyes, strong chin and striking auburn hair, she wonders what on Earth Bren sees in her.

It’s not so much that she’s in love with him or anything silly like that, at sixteen and seventeen years old it’s not exactly likely they’ll end up married or anything. But she really likes him all the same, and things with her peers are bad enough without the embarrassment of a break up for them to titter over too. And what will happen to their little trio if things between her and Bren don’t work out? Even if it fizzled out now she’d have to see him all the time still, probably silently pining over him, and that would be unbearable.

She realises she’s been staring at the same page of her History of Arcana book for the past ten minutes without taking any of it in and snaps it shut frustratedly. In her winter report, her literature professor labelled her _"highly skilled in analytics with a fine eye for details and nuances"_ , but in this instance she’d call it an irritating habit of overthinking things to the point of being ridiculous.

"What are you wearing to the formal Astrid?" She looks up, startled. The sudden sharp noise of her book closing has apparently attracted the attentions of her dorm mates. Merinda Vossy sits smirking at her across the room waiting for an answer to her very innocent sounding question, and Astrid knows full well they’re only asking for their own amusement. They hardly ever speak to her, and when they do there’s always some sting to it.

"Nothing special." She shrugs truthfully.

"Not that ugly thing in your closet space, surely?" They all giggle inanely. "My grandmother wouldn't even wear that."

"Thank you." She says dryly, eyes narrowed.

"Bren's going to take one look at you in that potato sack and dump you in front of everyone." Renna Jenstorn adds with a laugh. Astrid's almost impressed with their ability to read her insecurities and exploit them so thoroughly. Outnumbered and with no inclination to fight her corner when it would be pointless, she lays down, pulls the covers over her head, and ignores their brief goading from across the room as she cries silently.

************

The afternoon of the formal, Astrid sits on Bren's bed trying to revise. Their usual study session has been dismissed early, since in the words of Professor Antwig who was meant to be supervising it, the whole class was "a roiling mess of hormones and excitement enough to drive one mad."

While Eodwulf takes his turn in their shared bathroom, Bren sits beside her and kisses the top of her head. "What’s wrong?"

On the other side of the room, three other boys who occupy the dorm are eagerly and loudly discussing their plans for the night while throwing various items of clothing at each other. She supposes it’s a far cry from her own demeanour, and Bren has always been perceptive.

"Nothing." She lies with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. He frowns down at her, his concern clear. "It’s nothing." She sighs, putting her book down. "I’m just being silly."

"You know you can tell me anything Astrid. I won’t think it’s silly, not if it’s upsetting you." He reaches to tuck a few stray hairs behind her ear and she wonders again what he sees in her.

"I’m just nervous about tonight."

"Nervous? About what? I thought you were excited about the dancing?"

"It’s not the dancing that’s the problem. I'm going to look awful, my dress is horrible..." He looks genuinely taken aback, and if she wasn’t feeling so disheartened she’d be flattered. "I told you, it’s silly. I’m just being insecure."

"That’s not like you. Has someone said something?" For the first time she realises it really isn’t like her to care what those stupid girls think. She's usually so confident, in her abilities, her intelligence, her ambitions. A few months of bullying from some jumped up little rich kids and she’s begun to doubt herself. It makes her angry, with them most definitely, but more with herself for allowing them to get to her to this degree, not least because even realising what they’ve done doesn’t make her feel better about herself. She feels hot, angry tears begin to prickle in her eyes and stands, turning away from him so he won’t see.

"Just the girls in my dorm being horrible again, nothing new. Anyway, I’d better go and get ready. I’ll see you later." She hears him call her name as she hurries out of the room, but she’s glad to find he doesn’t follow her, wiping her tears away crossly.

Later, when she really can’t leave it any longer to put her dress on, she tries to block out the disparaging noises and giggles of the other girls as she steps into it, wiggling the cotton over her slightly too broad hips, pulling the sleeves down her too long arms. To avoid their likely hystericsas she attempts to do it up, she goes to the bathroom, wrestling with the clasps down the back in private.

Sitting on her bed, she turns away from the others while she puts two small braids into her hair, joining them in the middle at the back of her head with a silk ribbon that’s seen better days. She fiddles with the rest of her hair which hangs loose just above her shoulders, and wishes it was either naturally curly or straight and not an untidy mix of the two.

There’s a sharp knock on the door, and Merinda practically runs to open it, loudly telling the others it’s probably her date, who's in the third year as she's been reminding them for the past month, giving Astrid a sickly smile as she passes her.

"Oh, hello Bren. Wow, it turns out you country kids _can_ scrub up well if you try. You know, Renna thinks you’re pretty, it's not too late to change your mind and go to the formal with her instead if you want." There’s a chorus of giggles from the other end of the room.

Bren steps past her into the room without saying a word, expression dark and brooding, but when he sees Astrid an easy smile lights up his face. Merinda wasn’t kidding, he does look good. His suit is adjusted but functional, the bottoms of his trouser legs and sleeves turned up and stitched, but it’s a neat job and she wouldn’t be able to tell if she didn’t already know about it from their conversations leading up to tonight. She wishes her mother could sew as well as his can.

Without pause, he takes both her hands in his and pulls her up to stand, gliding them lightly up her arms to cup her cheeks as he kisses her firmly, rubbing the tip of his nose against hers when he pulls back. "You look beautiful Schatz. Let’s go." And with that, he takes her hand and leads her out of the room without a second glance at the girls left gaping at them. Astrid, on the other hand, makes sure to grin smugly at Merinda as she passes her.

"You didn’t have to do that." She says, as they walk arm in arm towards the banquet hall where the formal is being held. "But thank you."

"Do what?" He answers, sounding genuinely confused.

"Lie." She snorts amusedly. "I know I look awful really but it means a lot that you put those vicious harpies in their place at least. They’re faces were a picture when you..."

With a frustrated sigh, he alters their course and steers her over to the shadowed base of the library building they’re passing, pressing her gently but firmly up against the wall as he kisses her earnestly. She’s quickly lost in it, almost forgetting about the formal completely.

"I didn’t lie." He says against her lips, kissing her again before she barely gets a breath. "You are beautiful, certainly to me. I don’t care if other people can’t see it, they don’t matter." His kisses move down her jaw to her neck, his hands ghosting down her sides. "It’s not tight, it’s figure hugging, and Gods Astrid that works for me." She feels him smirk against her skin as her fingers stop their downward trajectory just barely brushing the curve of her behind and her breath hitches in her throat. "And if it's plain, it’s because you don’t need embellishments." His lips move back up to hers again, his kiss chaste before he pulls away, taking her hands in his. "It only matters what you think, and what I think, and the rest of them can go to the nine hells."

She looks at him a little dazed for a moment, and at least he’s breathing as heavily as she is because it’s almost embarrassing how much power he has over her. He’s right, she can’t question it. Those stupid girls really don’t matter, and if he thinks she looks good, then she must look good.

Feeling more confident than she has in months, she takes his arm again and rises up on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. "Let’s go and dance."

The formal is every bit as perfect as she’d hoped it would be, and a chance to hear music for a whole evening, a luxury she’s rarely experienced. Bard's would occasionally come to Blumenthal when she was growing up, but it was a rare occurrence. Mostly it was old man Schulte murdering the lute in the local tavern as he got steadily more drunk. Every year there was a harvest celebration and a midsummer dance in the town square, but it was nothing compared to this.

Hundreds of magically suspended candles high in the arch of the roof light the space, the usually bare stone hall decorated with colourful banners and flags. A half dozen musicians play a jolly, bouncing rhythm from a raised platform at one end of the hall, and already the floor is full of couples gingerly putting into practice the steps they’ve only recently been taught. Astrid drags a slightly reluctant Bren to join in, but it doesn’t take him long to get into the swing of things and lead her confidently through the steps. After a while he even grows bold enough to add a few spins and dips. Inevitably she ends up stumbling after one too many spins, which sends her careening into his chest as they both end up laughing. Their hold is ruined, the polite distance between them now distinctly less polite, and if that was his intention she doesn’t mind at all, staying as close to him as the steps will allow.

It’s past midnight when the band finally play their last, the number of students still in the hall significantly dwindled now and the supervising teachers encouraging the last of them out and to bed. As they make their way out hand in hand, they exchange grimaces as they pass a couple kissing sloppily on the entry steps.

"Is that what it looks like when we kiss?" She whispers, feeling slightly traumatised.

"Probably." He smirks, not looking the least bit ashamed. "Poor Wulf having to see that. Speaking of..."

Bren grins over her shoulder just before a pair of familiar huge hands grab her waist and spin her round. "May I have this dance my lady?" Wulf takes her hands and pulls her along for a few steps of a Zemnian country jig she hasn’t danced in years. She laughs happily, indulging him for a moment before batting him away.

"I can’t dance another step, my feet hurt so badly." She flops down onto the low brick wall at the bottom of the steps and takes a shoe off to rub one of her swollen feet.

"Bren been stomping on them all night?" Wulf grins cheekily at him.

"Ha ha." Bren laughs dryly, sitting down beside her. "I’m not that bad. Where have you been? And where's Mura? I thought you two would be holed up somewhere for the night."

"I've been in the hall most of the evening, you two just couldn’t take your eyes off each other. It was gross." The edge of fondness in his voice gives away that he doesn’t really mean it. "Mura was tired so I walked her back to her dorm. It was empty so we... made the most of the opportunity. Turns out, she does this thing with her mouth..."

"Ah, Wulf, stop!" She presses her hands over her ears. To her horror, Bren looks mildly interested, but Wulf mercifully doesn’t continue, smirking at them both proudly. She hops down off the wall and puts her shoe back on, starting off down the path towards their dorm building. "We’d better get back too, before we get told off for loitering."

"I’ll tell you later. About the mouth thing..." she hears Wulf whisper to Bren conspiratorially after a short pause. She stifles a laugh, turning around to roll her eyes at them both.

"Perhaps I’ll have to ask Mura for some advice." She says with a coy smile, just to see the look on Bren's face. His eyes go wide and his mouth hangs open for a moment, before the shock is replaced by a lopsided grin that makes her want to kiss him till he’s breathless. _Worth it_ , she thinks to herself as she turns and continues on down the path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry Potter was severely lacking in hungover teenagers and bunk ups behind the broom sheds amiright?


	6. Study Buddies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took a while, we’re back to real life here after the Christmas break and it took me a while to get one section the way I wanted it. And it’s long too - hopefully that’s a good thing!
> 
> A bit more Wulf in this one, and though I’ve stuck as close to cannon as possible so far, I have had to go full head cannon with his backstory. Hoping we get to see more of him and Astrid on stream at some point!

_Why can’t they hold exams on the winter?_ Astrid thinks to herself as her gaze drifts from the page she’s meant to be reading to the window opposite, where a stream of bright sunshine flows through, dust mote sparkles dancing in the hazy golden rays.

She’s torn. On the one hand, the late spring sunshine and fresh air outside are extremely tempting, and she’s pretty sure from past experience she could persuade, nag or if required cajole the boys to get up and go out with her to find a quiet spot to continue their Da'leysen morning study session. But on the other hand, with her head pillowed against Bren's shoulder, warm under the covers with him, it’s hard to think of a really good reason why she would ever want to move from here.

It’s strange to think how far they’ve come in just a few months. How comfortable she already is with him, and how domestic it all feels. It’s all happened so fast, but she supposes that’s what happens when you spend almost every waking hour of every day with someone.

It’s certainly not what she expected when they were selected for the Academy. It was nice to have some vaguely familiar company sure, but she hardly knew either of the boys, only through reputation, gossip, and the usual inevitable encounters of a small town population. Bren and Eodwulf hadn't been well acquainted beforehand either, but upon joining the Academy had bonded quickly. From her perspective, they were just a reminder of home and the world was so much bigger than boring little Blumenthal. Full of high expectations and overconfidence in her ability to make her own friends at the Academy, she hadn't spent much time bothering to get to know them.

How wrong she’d been. No sooner had her worn leather case hit the floor of her dorm room, it was as though a target had been placed on her back. She’d tried for a while to make friends with the other girls, but once they knew where she’d come from and that she’d been awarded a scholarship because she couldn’t afford the fees, there had been no hope.

Alone, and dreading the prospect of spending years here isolated and bullied by the other students, she’d naturally gravitated towards Bren and Eodwulf. They’d let her in without a seconds thought, despite the fact that it must have been obvious to all of them that she needed them more than they needed her.

She nuzzles into Bren's chest a little closer at that thought, that she’s so lucky to have them both. She’d believed when she’d first arrived here that she’d make friendships that would last a lifetime, she hadn’t for a moment considered that they’d been right under her nose all along.

The silence of the room is shattered all of a sudden by a loud growl. She and Bren both jump, looking over to Wulf's bed in time to see him lob his leather bound text book at the opposite wall. It hits with a loud thud, bouncing off and hitting the floorboards spread open, the spine bent back. She notices Bren wince at that, his love of books showing.

"Are you alright Wulf?" She asks tentatively. He swings his legs over the edge of his bed and stamps one foot hard against the floor. Elbows on his knees, he grips his head in his hands, his knuckles going white with the force of it.

"It won’t go in. I’ve tried and tried, but I just can't remember any of it." Her heart clenches at how upset he sounds, almost on the verge of tears. It’s such a departure from his usual cocky, cheerful disposition, she’s stunned into silence.

"Then we’ll help you." Bren offers calmly, shifting beside her to sit up. "If we all go over it together, we can find where you’re struggling and..."

"What’s the point?" He shouts frustratedly, rising from the bed to kick the storage chest at the end of it. "I’m not clever enough to be here! He said I wasn’t, and he was right!"

"No he wasn't." Bren kicks off his blankets and stands to face him. "Your father is a drunk and a bully. You took the entry exams the same as us, and you passed them. Of course you belong here."

Astrid puts down her long forgotten book, looking at Wulf sadly. She had already known the gist of the story from the Blumenthal rumour mill, but Bren had filled her in on the full version when their level of friendship had seemed to warrant it.

Wulf's father is a blacksmith, the latest in a long line in their family, their forge having been passed down at least five generations. Naturally, his father had started training him as well. His only son, Wulf's future had been mapped out for him since the day he was born. So when his talent for magic had become apparent, the old man had been less than pleased. His drunken rages were a staple subject of the Blumenthal gossips. She vaguely remembers hearing of a tavern brawl he started once, though for the most part the rumours consisted of hushed whispers of the bruises and black eyes his wife and Wulf would sometimes sport.

So when Wulf had been accepted to the Soltryce Academy, the news had gone down like a lead balloon to his father. Predictably, the man had refused outright to let him go. She’d heard that his wife, having tried to plead her son's case, had been beaten so badly the healer had to be called. Wulf had walked out that night, and of an age considered by the Empire as adequate to make his own decisions, had come with them to the Academy with nothing but the clothes on his back, and without his father's blessing.

So it’s easy to understand his distress at the prospect of failing. It’s not only the abusive words of his father he has to contend with. It’s the knowledge that if he is thrown out, he faces either destitution on the streets, or having to beg his father's forgiveness and return to his abusive home.

"Then why is it so hard?" Wulf asks quietly, large shoulders slumped defeatedly.

"Have you considered that maybe it isn’t?" Both boys look over at her, their confusion plain. "There’s so much at stake for you Wulf, it would be strange if you weren’t feeling stressed. I've seen you work all year and you’re easily at the top of the class with Bren and I." She can see him beginning to calm, considering the logic of what she’s saying. Since her words seem to be having an effect, she continues. "We were chosen on merit alone, our fees and board paid for by the school. Why would they do that without being sure you were up to passing? You’re not stupid Wulf, far from it."

"So why can’t I do it?"

"You can. We just need to work out how to help you feel less overwhelmed." She smiles encouragingly at him.

"Maybe going to see Mura would help you relax..." Bren shrugs, attempting to feign innocence as though she won’t know exactly what he means. Wulf opens his mouth to answer, already nodding his approval at the suggestion, but Astrid cuts him off.

"I think you’ve seen more than enough of Mura recently to rule that out as a solution... The first thing I think we all need to do is take a break. We’ve been at this for hours. Let’s go into town for supplies."

"Supplies?" Wulf asks unsurely. "I have plenty of paper and ink already and that’s not helped either. What else could we need?"

********

"Right, so let me get this straight." Wulf asks dubiously, as they leave the bakery and head towards Eiche Park. "Your plan is for us to eat a ton of sugar while we stay up all night... jamming?"

"Cramming." Astrid corrects around a mouthful or pastry. "And it’s a valid study method."

"Valid according to...?" Bren raises an eyebrow, also taking a pastry.

"Me." She shrugs. "Come on, it’ll be fun. You like sneaking out and nearly getting us all expelled, it’s unlike you to need any encouragement."

"Staying up all night reading is not fun. Especially when what I’m reading doesn’t make sense to me." Wulf grumbles.

"It will. And we won’t sleep till it does." She looks to Bren for back up and is pleased to see him nod in agreement.

Wulf sighs heavily. "The first exam is on Grissen. That’s two days from now, you should be getting all the sleep you can. I don’t want my failure to drag you both down too." They reach the gates to the park and make their way up the hard packed dirt path towards the large grassed area in the centre. Above them, so high that they’re barely visible, hundreds of red breasted swallows shriek and wheel in the cloudless sky, freshly arrived from the south and heralding the start of the summer. It’s a timely reminder of just how close the end of their first academic year is.

" _We_ don’t think you need any help at all, but _you_ do and that's what matters. So we’re going to help you, whether you like it or not." Bren states firmly, determined. Wulf considers them both for a moment before the corners of his lips quirk in the slightest hint of a smile.

"Thank you. For trying at least."

"Where are we going to do it though? Any ideas Wulf?" Astrid knows to go straight to the expert when it comes to sneaking around after dark. His brows knit together in thought for a moment.

"Obviously the dorms are out, the accommodation building corridors are patrolled too often, the library is locked, so are all of the buildings with the classrooms. Assuming we want to stay on the school grounds this time, our best bet is probably the kitchens. Though we’ll have to be out way before sunrise, the cooks start the breakfast shift early."

"If you do fail your exams Wulf, at least there’s a career as a cat burglar for you." Bren grins, biting into his pastry. He jumps back as the larger boy makes a half-hearted grab for him.

"Schwachkopf. You’re just jealous of my superior skills... So it’ll be safest to go long after lights out, once everyone else is asleep. Astrid, you’ll have to make it down on your own when it’s all clear in your room. Just use the same route I showed you last time." She nods, swallowing down her sudden nerves. "And if we’re going to do this, we're going to need something proper to drink."

"We’re not meant to be getting drunk, and anyway, I’m not doing that again, not when we have classes in the morning. I can deal with tiredness, but please not another hangover." Astrid puts her head in her hands, the vivid memory of the previous alcohol induced headache still haunting her.

"Not loads, just a flask's worth. Just to help us stay awake." She looks at him unconvinced, but acquiesces with a shrug. All of her admittedly scant first hand knowledge of alcohol leads her to believe it would do the opposite to keeping them awake, but it’s his study session so she doesn’t argue. She’s just happy he’s onboard. "I’ll go and get it now, I know a place a few streets away. You two might as well stay here, I won’t be long."

She’s noticed he’s been making excuses every now and then to leave them alone together for a good few weeks now, and she wonders amusedly to herself if that’s his own doing or if Bren has asked him to. Either way she appreciates it, especially with their time so stretched recently with all the extra study.

"You’re great with him you know?" Bren says as they watch Wulf stride off across the grass, back to the path and the streets beyond.

"You make him sound like a child." She chuckles, sitting down on the grass. Bren follows her lead, resting against her side and putting an arm around her back to hold her close.

"He’s just... he’s more vulnerable than he lets on. The situation with his father, it gets to him more than he’ll admit. Everyone assumes he’s tough because of how he looks and behaves, but a lot of it's just an act. He’s kind, and loyal, and a really good friend."

"Now you’re making him sound like a dog." She smiles fondly. "I know what you mean though. He’s certainly not what I expected when I first started hanging around with you both. Neither of you are I suppose."

"What did you think of _me_ before?"

She laughs, pursing her lips. "My mother warned me about you actually..."

He grins at that, raising an eyebrow. "What did she say?"

"That you were brash, forward, cocky and manipulative." She reels off from memory, wincing at her mother's harsh judgement. "She called you a heart breaker."

"Wow. I can’t decide if I should be offended or pleased with that assessment."

"Well, she’s never really spoken much sense. It’s not as though she knows your family well, she just has a lot of opinions and likes to voice them. She’s a vapid, infuriating bore."

"Speaking of opinions... I’m sensing that you don’t get on with her?" He asks, and she can’t tell from his expression whether he’s more amused or concerned.

"Never have, never will. We're completely different." She answers haughtily. His smile broadens, definitely more amused now, though she can’t determine why.

"I see. Well I still might break your heart, what if she’s not wrong? You might need to eat humble pie." He teases.

"I’d have to fall in love with you for that." She sighs dramatically, acting out a swoon and falling onto her back to lay in the short mown grass.

"And how am I doing on that score?" He asks quietly, leaning over her to nuzzle their noses together.

Despite his confidence, there’s an edge of vulnerability to the question. She realises for the first time that she really does feel like she’s falling for him. There’s still the niggling doubt put into her head by the logic and reason she values so highly in her studies. She's never considered herself the sort of girl to fall in love this quickly or this young, and it makes her question whether what she’s feeling is real or just the chemical reactions of a brain thrust into an intense situation. But she certainly does feel it, whatever it is, and she can’t deny this has moved far beyond a silly schoolgirl crush. She’s well on the way to falling in love with him, and there’s no point in her pretending she isn’t, however much it scares her.

"Pretty excellently." She whispers to him, weaving her fingers into his hair to pull him down for a kiss. If the smile that lights up his face is anything to go by, she thinks that just maybe he might feel the same way too.

*********

"Ok, last few in this block of questions. What school of magic does False Life belong to?"

"Necromancy, obviously." Wulf grins at her proudly, taking a swig from his flask.

"And the components required?" He holds the flask up and gives it a gentle shake in her direction. "Alcohol, correct." She beams triumphantly. Eodwulf, sat propped up lazily against the row of cupboards opposite, takes another sip from the flask in celebration.

"We told you it was just your nerves." Bren says, taking a pastry from the bag Astrid brought with her. The orbs of his dancing lights spell above them flicker momentarily as his concentration wanes while choosing one of the little jam filled pastry parcels, the warm glow recovering as he takes a bite.

In the restored light, Astrid notices Wulf's previously renewed confidence has faltered again, his smile slipping. "Ja, if only they’d let me do the exam after dark in the kitchens with you two and a flask of ale, I’d be fine."

Astrid considers him sympathetically. "It’s not about where, when or who with." She reaches to take one of his larger hands in hers. "The point is you can do it. You know this stuff, you’ve studied just as hard as us, you were chosen just the same as us... You underestimate yourself Wulf."

His expression warming considerably, he gives her hand a squeeze before withdrawing to lunge at the pastry bag Bren is still holding, the shorter boy laughing as he snatches it just out of his reach. "Uh uh, no more until you finish all of the test questions."

"Come on! I’ve done enough now haven’t I? Astrid? Can’t we at least have a break, we’ve been at it for hours?"

"We’ve not even started on evocation yet..." she sighs at the little whine he makes in protest, rolling her eyes. "Fine. A short break won’t hurt." He grins, lunging for the bag again and this time Bren lets him have it. In return, he passes him the flask, and Bren takes a deep swig before passing it to her. Still traumatised by her recent hangover, she grimaces at it and hands it back.

From the hallway, a sudden creak of floorboards makes them all jump and they peer warily out at the darkness beyond the arched kitchen entryway. A few seconds of eerie silence follows and she starts to relax, supposing it must just have been the old building shifting in the cool of the night. They exchange relieved looks and shrugs.

"I thought Matron was going to burst in yelling for a minute there." Bren exhales harshly with a nervous laugh.

"With her great big frilly nighty and her rollers in. I’d rather see a ghost than that." Wulf grimaces dramatically.

"I bet if she was hot you wouldn’t mind." Astrid smirks, knowing how his mind works, her heartbeat starting to return to its normal pace.

"Oh I’d get caught on purpose." He smiles wryly, dropping his head back against the cupboard and closing his eyes with a wistful sigh. "Madam Safra. Now there’s a teacher I wouldn’t mind getting a caning from."

"Oh Wulf, no...just...no..." Astrid grimaces, but she can’t help laughing. Bren splutters, nearly choking on a swig of ale, holding his chest as he chuckles hoarsely.

Another creak from outside, closer this time, stops their laughter dead.

"You should go and check there’s no one out there." Wulf whispers to her.

"Why me? You go!" She hisses back as quietly as she can manage.

"You’re closest to the door, and this was all your idea..."

From beside her, Bren let’s out an exasperated sigh and gets up, making his way cautiously over to the archway. Astrid and Eodwulf watch in suspense as he peeks his head around the corner before disappearing into the darkness without a word. They look at each other tensely as the seconds tick by and he doesn’t reappear.

After what seems like the longest thirty seconds of her life, Astrid starts to move to see where he’s got to, Wulf following her lead, but before they can even get to their feet, in walks Matron, a disparaging glare aimed at the pair of them. Astrid's stomach drops. She stands up fully, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly, looking for an explanation as to why they are down here in their nightclothes in the early hours of the morning. Glancing nervously at Eodwulf he seems to be having much the same problem.

Abruptly, Matron begins to laugh, the sound all wrong. Her face creases in amusement, and it takes Astrid a moment to realise the pitch of the voice is Bren's. She lets out a noise halfway between a sigh and a growl, dropping her head into her hands, while Eodwulf collapses back against the counter top with a loud relieved exhale.

"You...!" Is all she can manage breathlessly, pointing her finger at him as he lets the spell drop, still laughing.

"Arsch!" Wulf growls, though from his grin it’s clear he sees the funny side.

"Disguise Self is a very useful spell. Besides, it’s revision." Bren smirks. She notices for the first time that cradled in his arms is a loudly purring black and white cat.

"Nice pussy." Drawls Wulf dryly. "Doesn’t it belong to Master Hass?"

"I think so. I heard he lets her wander the school grounds at night catching mice." Bren croons at the cat. It arches delightedly in his arms as he tickles it behind the ears. "They like the night, it’s when they’re most active."

"He’s supposed to be moving to Zadash after this term, he’s the new headmaster there. I guess he’ll be taking the cat with him, sorry Bren." She says insincerely, sitting back down with a slight flounce. Bren seems oblivious, his attention fully absorbed in the cat's antics.

"Meow, someone’s jealous." Wulf grins at her.

"Of Master Hass going to Zadash?" She frowns, opening her evocation text book.

"Of the cat Dummkopf."

She laughs just a little bit too quickly. "Why would I be jealous of a cat? You’re the Dummkopf." Bren seems hardly aware of their bickering, smoothly moving to sit cross legged, the little cat rearing up on its hind legs to rub its head against his chin before dropping back against his chest, its purrs steadily increasing in volume.

Wulf, never one to miss an opportunity to take the piss, doesn’t buy her attempted dismissal. "I bet he never rubs you behind the ears like that."

"I don’t want my ears rubbed, thank you." She bristles, keeping her eyes firmly on the book. "Magic Missile, what are the verbal components?"

"I bet you want Bren's magic missile in your..."

"Wulf..." Bren warns without looking up from the cat, as Astrid tries to ignore the flush she feels creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. Their larger friend grins smugly, but answers her question all the same.

**********

Astrid wakes with a start at the sound of loud metallic clanging.

"Rise and shine!" A booming, gravelly voice shouts with a little laugh. "I love doing that... come on, get up and get out."

She blinks her eyes open groggily, wincing at the painful crick in her neck from apparently having fallen asleep slumped against Bren's shoulder. A stocky, apron-clad dwarf stands a few feet away carrying a large cooking pot under one muscular forearm, a wooden spoon brandished in his free hand. He peers at them expectantly. Beside her, Bren is propped up against the cupboards wiping a clumsy hand over his eyes sleepily, and off to one side lays Eodwulf sprawled uncomfortably on the tiles, holding his hands over his ears, eyes scrunched closed. Clearly not seeing enough movement for his liking, the dwarf bashes the spoon against the pot again, the harsh noise ringing in her ears unpleasantly. The three of them groan and hold their heads.

"Frans! Stop it, we’re going, we're going..." Eodwulf forces himself to sit up, waving an arm at the dwarf with his eyes still closed.

"About time too. I’ve told you before Eodwulf, you get out of here before I get in for work, or you get woken up by Berta." He points at the cooking pot, and Astrid isn’t sure if she’s more confused by the fact that his pot has a name, his apparently being on first name terms with Wulf, or the fact that he seems not to have handed them in to Matron. "At least you've got clothes on this time, last time I caught you in here you were with that girl, Manda? Mona?"

"Mura." Wulf yawns. "Ja, that was a good night... but sorry you had to see that."

"I had to scrub this place from top to bottom. You do know I have to serve food from here? I hope everyone kept their clothes on this time round?" He asks suspiciously, eying the three of them.

It takes Astrid a moment to work out what he’s implying, her eyes going wide when she does, and even Bren looks traumatised at the suggestion. Wulf snorts a laugh. "Even I’m not that adventurous Frans. Thanks for the wake up call."

Stretching and sore from their awkward sleeping positions, the three friends make their way out of the kitchen, leaving Frans to start prepping for breakfast. As they pass the windows in the corridoron the way to the stairs, it's still dark outside, though Astrid can make out the slight lightening of the sky the signifies dawn approaching. She groans as it hits her that it's Miresen, and by the time they get back upstairs and crawl into their beds, they’ll have only around an hour left to sleep before having to go to class all day. Seeing the confidence back in Wulf's demeanour as he leads the way into the service stairwell though, she decides it was all worth it for him.

"Who is that guy Wulf?" Bren asks, his voice still hoarse from sleep.

"Frans, he's one of the cooks. He’s always first in for breakfast service, so we’ve run into each other a few times now. He’s cool. He won’t turn us in at least."

"Bit of a sadist with the pot though." Astrid absent-mindedly rubs the back of her neck where her muscles still feel cramped.

"Yea." Wulf laughs quietly, all three of them drop their voices to a whisper as they near the dorm corridor. "He’s a bit... weird."

"He caught you having sex in his kitchen, that’s enough to make anyone a bit weird." Bren smirks, and Wulf punches him jokingly in the shoulder.

As they arrive at the boys dorm room door, Wulf bids her a good rest of the night and ducks inside, leaving her and Bren to have a moment alone. As soon as he’s gone, Bren pulls her in for a soft, lingering kiss. They break apart reluctantly, both exhausted.

"I wish you could come and sleep in my bed." He whispers, toying with a lock of her hair.

"So do I, but at the risk of getting thrown out the day before the exams begin, I think it’s best I don’t." She smiles, kissing him again chastely.

"Thank the Gods the summer break is only a few weeks away. No teachers. No Matron. No stupid shared dorm rooms." He grumbles quietly against her lips.

"Except for Wulf." She corrects with a smile, recalling the arrangement the boys have for Eodwulf to stay with Bren's family in order to avoid his own father.

"Wulf I can stand. And besides, he’s happy to give us space when we want it." The longing in his voice is hard to miss and as he nuzzles into her neck, she almost gives in and agrees to spend what's left of the night curled up with him in his bed after all. Knowing that it’s a supremely bad idea though, and with just enough resolve to resist the temptation, she forces herself away from him.

"I look forward to that," she smiles tiredly, stifling a yawn with her hand, "but right now we really do need some sleep. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Schatz." Kissing him one last time, she heads off down the corridor to her own bed, trying not to think too hard about the prospect of getting to spend an entire summer with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m a sucker for big strong funny dudes with a vulnerable streak and a tragic past 😉


	7. Letting Off Steam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a leeeeetle bit of smut in this one...

"Five minutes remaining." Master Starek calls disinterestedly, not looking up from the book he has been reading for the past fifty-five minutes. Astrid bites her lip pensively. She finished writing a while ago, but her stomach is still knotted with nerves all the same. It’s not helped by the fact that all around her other students are still completing their papers, some relaxed, some frantic, and though she's aware that it’s to be expected for her to find it easier and therefore finish earlier than most of them, it’s unnerving all the same. Bren and Eodwulf are both seated further back, and while the idea of turning to see how they’re doing is tempting, she worries that it will make Starek suspicious of her motives. Not that he’s been paying much attention to the class during the exam, but still. With his track record for being hard on the three of them, she decides against it. Turning her attention back to the paper laid out on her desk, she begins to read over her answers one last time to check for any errors.

"Time. Stop writing and lay down your quills. Bring your papers to my desk at once, in an orderly fashion." Starek instructs, snapping his book shut. She stands shakily and shuffles along with the crowd of students to deposit her paper in a pile with theirs.

And that’s it. Her first year at the Soltryce Academy is finished. She’s a little dazed by that thought, collecting her things from her desk by sheer instinct and following the crowd out of the classroom door, only coming back to herself when she feels a pair of arms wrap around her waist, lifting her off the floor from behind.

"We did it!" She can hear the grin in Bren's voice as he presses a kiss to her temple before putting her back down. She spins in his arms with a smile, trying her best to quell her nerves which refuse to settle completely.

"We just have to wait for the results now..."

"Are you worried?" He asks, eyes narrowing slightly in concern. "Did it not go well for you?"

"No, I think it was fine, I answered them all... you just never know do you? We can’t be certain we’ve actually passed for another week yet." She answers, trying to keep the smile on her face but knowing she sounds gloomy. Bren wraps his arms around her a little tighter, holding her against his chest, and she feels suddenly guilty for bringing down his good mood.

"The three of us are easily the smartest in that class by miles. And in every other class too for that matter. You’ve nothing to worry about." He assures her, stroking small circles over her back.

"Thank you. I know. I just really don’t want this to end."

"It has been a pretty great year hasn’t it." He grins into her hair.

"And now, we celebrate it." Wulf says, joining them. She and Bren part and she can't help but smile at the sight of Wulf's grin. He’s practically bouncing off the walls he looks so excited, his pre-exam nerves finally gone. "One week left, no proper classes... we’re so close to freedom I can almost smell it."

Bren eyes him sceptically. "And let me guess. You’ve got a quiet week planned with absolutely no mischief in mind?"

Wulf snorts derisively, his grin widening even more. "Well for a start, we’re getting drunk tonight..."

"No. Nein. No. Not after last time..." Astrid interjects, putting her hands up to emphasise her point.

"Oh yes, ja, yes! We don’t even have to sneak out, every year they give all students a free pass the night exams end."

"Yes, I know, but..."

"No buts!" She blinks in surprise as he boops her on the nose. "We’re going to an inn tonight, and we’re going to drink too much, and laugh too much, and then maybe we'll go and lay down in a park to sober up before we stagger home, but we’re going to have a great night. Trust me! When have I ever let you down?"

************

Exiting their dorm building together a few hours later, Astrid, Bren and Eodwulf join the steady stream of students merrily making their way through the gates of the campus and out into the wide, well paved streets of the Shimmer Ward. The sun has almost set, the sky streaked with pink and the few billowing clouds all hues of purples and rimmed with gold where the last rays hit them.

"This is so surreal." Astrid breathes a laugh, feeling properly free for the first time in months."I can’t believe they’re actually letting us out at night."

For most of their fellow students, this is the first time they’ve ventured out of the campus after dark, and the air is full of palpable excitement. They’ve all been given strict instructions to be back in their dorms before midnight, but she thinks that’s rather unlikely with the clear intention of many of the students to drink as much as possible in as short a time as possible.

Catching on to the yearly tradition, many of the inns closest to the campus have laid on entertainment, and waved their usual stringent rules on serving younger customers. As a result, it’s not long before the three of them find themselves seated at one such establishment crowded with their peers and with a bard in full swing playing a jolly country tune on a brightly coloured accordion.

With Wulf bringing in their first round, she allows Bren only a quick gulp of his drink before dragging him up to dance. She can tell his weak protests are mostly for show by the huge grin on his face, and he certainly has no complaints when she pulls him in close. The way he looks at her, hungry and a little bit possessive, makes her stomach flutter as he leads her around the small, crowded space that’s been cleared of tables and chairs to form a makeshift dance floor, the tune a traditional old Zemnian folk song they both know well.

Bren's hand slides low on her back, Astrid giggling against his collarbone. She pulls away from him to spin, displacing his wandering hand with a wicked grin.

"I thought I was meant to be leading?" He murmurs against her ear as he pulls her back to him, his voice barely audible over the music and the rowdy crowd.

"Your hold was all wrong and I thought to help by correcting it." She smirks up at him. He narrows his eyes at her, a smile playing on his lips.

"I thought my hold was perfect actually. Allow me to demonstrate..." A hand slides slowly down her back again as they move, his palm following the path of her spine while his eyes never leave hers in a silent challenge. It’s tempting to give in to him, but she gathers her resolve enough to spin away again as his fingertips brush the curve of her behind, flashing a cheeky smile at him.

His growl when he pulls her back to his chest again is well worth missing out on his touch for and as their game continues, she finds she really quite enjoys teasing him, and the unexpected sense of power it gives her. From the flush that blooms on his neck and cheeks he feels the same, and while the game remains playful and covert, he gradually becomes bolder with his touches.

As the music begins to slow at the end of the tune, she spins one last time, successfully ducking away from his errant thumb attempting to brush the curve of her breast, but knocking into one of the tables lining the dance floor. She hears a clatter and turns to apologise to whoever is sitting there, finding Ferdinard glaring daggers at her, his well tailored britches sporting a noticeable dark patch from the ale dripping over the edge of the table top, a tankard lying on its side in front of him. _Of course it would have to be him_ she thinks resignedly, preparing herself for the barrage of abuse inevitably heading her way any second now.

"Clumsy footed cretin! You’re a disgrace to the Academy. They should never have let you in, any of you. These are probably worth more gold than you’ve ever even seen." He mutters, inspecting his trousers. He looks up at her, eyes narrowed and mouth twisted in a cruel smile. "They can pay your fees and give you lessons, but in the end you can’t polish a turd."

"What did you say to her?" Bren steps forward, leaning on the table in an attempt at looking threatening.

"Can’t you understand basic Common? Do they not speak it in your backwater hick village?" Grinning, he turns to his ever present gaggle of hangers-on, seeming satisfied with their accompanying titters at the insult. Astrid glances at Bren, who looks furious. More furious than she’s ever seen him. Certainly angry enough to do something he’s going to regret the next morning, and possibly for the rest of his life if it gets him thrown out of the Academy, so she takes his arm calmly and urges him away from the table.

"Let's go Bren. Let's not let him ruin our night." With his fists clenched and his jaw set with a scowl, she’s relieved when he allows her to lead him away.

"Yes Bren, do as your little bitch says and run away." Ferdinard laughs, his entourage giggling along with him. Astrid anticipates Bren's reaction and presses both palms against his chest just in time to stop him from launching himself at the smug elf.

"You know, I’d have apologised to you, but you’re really not worth it." She says over her shoulder, to Ferdinard. As he and his followers erupt into a chorus of sarcastic oooh's, she turns her attention back to Bren. "Look at me." She commands, his eyes flitting down to hers after a few more seconds of glaring at the elf over her shoulder. She can feel his heart pounding in his rib cage. "He isn't worth it." She repeats firmly. She walks him backwards a few steps before he turns with a growling exhale and gives in, stalking back to their table.

Wulf, who is busy kissing a giggling Mura in his lap when they return, seems blissfully unaware of the incident. The bench opposite them scrapes loudly on the floor as Bren sits down on it heavily, startling the pair from their unashamedly public make-out session.

"Hi!" Mura greets them enthusiastically, moving off of Wulf's lap ungraciously to sit pressed up against his side, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Her blouse is unbuttoned dangerously low, the lace trim of her shift showing and the deep valley of her generous cleavage on display.

"What’s wrong?" Wulf asks Bren with a confused frown, looking to her when he gets no response.

"We had a run in with Ferdinard. Nothing important, don’t worry about it." She explains vaguely before taking a long drink.

"He called her a cretin, and a turd. And a bitch." Bren says quietly, still seething. Wulf looks at her and raises an eyebrow.

"I’ll knock the little weasel out..."

"No you will not." Astrid sighs exasperatedly. "He isn't worth the consequences. And I’m sure Mura would prefer you spent the rest of the evening with her rather than being dragged off by the crownsguard for a night in a cell."

Beside him Mura nods enthusiastically, batting her eyes at him through her dark lashes, one hand squeezing his thigh just above the knee. "I would. Will you dance with me Wulfy?"

Astrid marvels as he smiles down at her, his anger seemingly forgotten in an instant. He wraps an arm around her and leads her out to the floor. She makes a mental note to ask Mura for some tips, since she is apparently a genius.

Her attention settles back on Bren, who is currently downing the remainder of his tankard. He smacks it down on the table harder than necessary when he finishes, his face still sour.

"Thank you for trying to defend my honour, I am grateful for your intention, but I’d really rather not have to spend the next year without you when you get thrown out for fighting with the son of a Lord."

He tuts sourly. "I wouldn’t get thrown out..."

"Maybe not, but you’d get the cane again for sure. Fancy that do you?" She chides, noticing him rubbing his knuckles subconsciously.

"So I’m supposed to just let him get away with talking to you like that because he’s rich and powerful and can do whatever he wants?"

"Yes. It’s not fair, and maybe it’s not right, but that’s how status works Bren. That's why we’re here isn’t it? We've been given a chance to make something of ourselves because of our talent and our intelligence. He’s been born into privilege, but if we work hard and don’t get ourselves kicked out," she looks at him pointedly, his cheeks heating in a blush, "we can make a name for ourselves. We could even end up his equal one day. From quaint, muddy little Blumenthal to the palaces and manor houses of Rexxentrum." She smiles earnestly, eyes wide with enthusiasm. She's aware it sounds like a pipe dream, her mother has told her more than once that her head is in the clouds. But she’s never heard of anyone important who ever got anywhere without ambition, and she has that in spades.

Bren's expression is unreadable for a moment. Finally, his lips quirk into a gentle smile, and he leans down to kiss her. The slow, intense affection of it takes her breath away. When he pulls back she feels dazed, as though her brain is swimming through molasses. He takes her hands, pulling her gently to her feet.

"You’re right, he really isn’t worth it. Come on, let’s forget about him and dance."

************

Gasping in breaths between laughs, Astrid flops down heavily onto the bench at their table, Bren joining her equally winded. Her mouth is parched, throat a little raw with all the singing and having to shout to be heard over the music, and she downs her last half pint of ale in one go. Bren looks somewhere between impressed and amused when she lowers her cup back to the table, letting her head flop back against the wall tiredly.

They’ve been dancing for hours now, not waltzing like they did at the formal which was exhausting enough, but wild, fast paced dances, some of the bouncing country style they grew up with, others foreign to her. They’d done their best to make it up on the spot or follow other couples who seemed to know the steps to the odd beating rhythm. Mostly they’d made a terrible job of it, but it had been so much fun Astrid couldn’t care less if they'd looked ridiculous.

Wulf appears at the table suddenly, chugging down the remnants of his own tankard and hurriedly grabbing his cloak from the bench.

"Gotta run, Mura's friend just told her their dorm's empty and will be for a while, so sorry to bail on you but we’re going to go and make the most of that. See you later." He winks at them, giving Bren a hefty slap on the shoulder before hurrying off to find a giggling Mura waiting at the door, stumbling out into the street kissing her.

"If they even make it back to that dorm I’ll be impressed." Bren laughs, watching them leave.

"Young love." She grins after them.

"That’s one word for it." He snorts.

"Do you think he has feelings for her though? Besides the ones in his pants." She asks, grabbing a handful of the roasted chestnuts they’d ordered from the bar earlier, feeling suddenly ravenous.

"I don’t think it’s serious, not for him at least. He’s not just sleeping with Mura, he has a few girls on the go." Bren shrugs, as though this is common knowledge.

"What!?" Astrid shrieks, nearly choking on a nut.

"So he tells me. ...I'm not sure I was meant to tell you that." He looks confused and begins counting on his fingers. "How many have I had?"

She laughs. "Three I think. I’ve only had two."

"You’ll have to take care of me then." He winks at her, and she grins back. "We probably should start heading back anyway. It's pretty late."

She sighs, looking longingly back at the dance floor still full of couples cavorting around the space having fun. It’s tempting to drag him back up there and ignore her aching feet and increasingly adamant yawns, but she feels so tired all of a sudden, and it must be close to the time they’re supposed to be back by. Gathering up their cloaks, they walk out of the door hand in hand, laughing as Bren stumbles a bit.

"Aww sweet. Two country rats scurrying off together." She sighs heavily and feels Bren tense beside her as Ferdinard's smarmy voice rings out from behind them.

Emboldened by the alcohol, she turns on her heel to look at him, a wide smile plastered on her face. He’s leaning with his back against the tavern wall, one foot up against the stonework and a smirk plastered on his face looking every bit the conceited highborn brat. Beyond him, a small crowd of his followers hover anxiously at the entrance to an alleyway beside the building, the sound of a girl being sick in the darkened passage explaining their dramatics.

"Ferdinard, a pleasure as always. Have you had a good evening?" She says pleasantly, taking a few relaxed steps closer to him.

"Apart from having to watch you two make a spectacle of yourselves all night you mean?" He grins looking back to his followers, though they’re all too drunk and worried for their puking friend to offer him much support.

"I hope we gave you a good show. It’s this thing called fun, you should try having it some time. Or are you just jealous?"

He laughs loftily, but even slightly tipsy she can hear the strained edge to it, as though she’s hit a nerve. "Hardly. I’d rather stay a bachelor for life than cavort with a filthy field wench like you."

Bren growls under his breath just behind her. Ignoring him, she laughs along with Ferdinard for a beat, throwing him off. "Here’s the thing though. Bren might have a filthy field wench on his arm, but at least I actually want him. You'll never have someone who wants you. Your little cheer squad only like you for your money and your status. Your family will probably find you a nice, polite, boring little high born wife who’ll let you stick it in her once or twice when you need to produce an heir, then scuttle off to the furthest corner of your enormous, pretentious manor to avoid you for the rest of your lives. And then you’ll have to pay for your kicks from some poor prostitute who’ll just want it over as quick as possible. You’ll never know what it feels like to have someone really, truly desire you for who you are instead of what you have." She purses her lips in mock sadness. "I pity you."

Ferdinard stares at her in disbelief for a moment, clearly not expecting such an eloquent outpouring of abuse, and she feels quite proud of herself for a moment. The fury that erupts on his face once his surprise wanes though tells her it may have been a mistake to let him have it quite so thoroughly. Bren lets out a harsh laugh behind her, the sound loud in the otherwise quiet street, even Ferdinard's gaggle of supporters watching the three of them in shock.

The sound of retching from the alleyway breaks the silence, and Ferdinard seems to snap. His hands shaking with rage begin to move and he starts whispering under his breath, the three familiar burning points of Magic Missile blinking into existence, heading straight for her. She reacts immediately, barely casting Shield in time to deflect them. Bren grabs her hand and they turn and run. Behind them, Ferdinard lets out a furious roar and they hear him casting again, the words louder this time. They duck out of the way just in time as a set of wooden mounting steps lands only feet away, splintering into shards on the road.

"Catapult." Bren says as they run. "At least he’s used both his spell slots now."

"Still cantrips to worry about!" She makes a sharp left turn onto another street, Bren following her lead. She squeaks and flings an arm up over her head out of instinct as a blue-white beam of frost hits the side of the building on the corner just above their heads, sending a spray of ice shards and flaking plaster over them both. Rounding the corner, they continue full pelt along the smaller side street.

"Crownsguard! Stop, in the name of the King!" She hears shouted from some distance behind them. They both stumble to a halt and turn, Bren stepping in front of her protectively. Now shielded by the buildings of the road they've turned into, they can’t see Ferdinard, but they can certainly hear him.

"Get your hands off me! I am the son of Lord Betrim Matinfreid!" He yells haughtily, his voice strained.

"I don’t care if you’re the son of King Dwendal himself, you can’t go flingin' magic around like that boy!" They hear one of the crownsguard grate out disdainfully. There’s the sound of chains clinking, Ferdinard huffing in speechless outrage. Astrid clamps a hand over her mouth to muffle a laugh. The gruff crownsguard recommences his scolding again. "Whoever those other kids are you could have killed 'em. Jendra, go and see if you can find 'em, they went up that way."

She and Bren freeze, staring wide eyed at each other for a moment as the sound of heavy booted footfalls approach the entrance to the street. A cheeky grin spreads across his face and before she can even think, they’re taking off again, ducking into another side street and out onto the road on the other side of the block. Finding an opening beside a drapers shop, they dart into the maze of alleyways and ginnels and keep running till they’re far enough from the road that the crownsguard are unlikely to find them. They collapse back against a high brick wall, both gasping for breath.

"Why did we run from the guards?" She pants, laughing.

"I don’t know," Bren chuckles along with her breathlessly, "it's not like there aren’t witnesses who know who we are. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time."

"Or the _wrong_ thing to do. I saw that grin of yours Bren Ermendrud." She teases, flashing him a grin of her own.

"Your mother did warn you about me..."

Her heart pounds in her chest from the exertion and the adrenaline, and looking over at him does nothing to slow it. Even in the dark of the passageway, the light from the larger of the dual moons blocked out by the looming rooftops above them, she can see that his cheeks are flushed red, his fringe dark with sweat and his chest rising and falling heavily as he catches his breath.

Without a seconds hesitation she fists a hand in his shirt and tugs him towards her. He grunts in surprise but responds quickly, leaning over her against the wall and lowering his head to kiss her. It’s a nice enough kiss, but he’s respectful and reserved, obviously holding back, and it’s not what she wants. She kisses him back hard, letting go of his shirt to grip one of his hips and pull him flush against her, while the other hand threads into his hair.

He exhales a shuddering breath against her mouth as he gets the message loud and clear, his tongue slipping past her lips to tangle desperately with her own, one hand moving to grip her arse while the other roams aimlessly, not seeming to know where to touch her first. Without thinking, she rolls her hips against his, suddenly acutely aware of the rapidly growing bulge in his trousers. He moans into her mouth, so she does it again, and again, the analytical part of her fascinated even though she’s finding it difficult to focus on anything with his hands and his mouth on her.

It’s not the first time she’s felt him hard like this, they’ve had enough snatched moments together for her to know how his body responds to hers when given half a chance. But that’s just it - they rarely have a chance for anything to progress past a quick kiss in the hallway as they say goodnight. There’s been no privacy, no time, no opportunity to explore each other properly. So the realisation that they’re finally free, for a little while at least, is too much to pass up.

Slipping her hand out of his hair, she reaches between them and tentatively cups him through his trousers. He groans low in his throat and wrenches his mouth from hers to press their foreheads together, eyes closed tight and jaw falling slack as he grinds hard against her palm. His reaction gives her newfound confidence and she tightens her grip on him, taking him in hand as best she can with the material still in the way. He begins to thrust in a frenzied rhythm, and she watches with fascination as he falls apart under her ministrations, his moans loud in the otherwise silent passageway.

It doesn’t take long for his hips to begin to falter, his moans rising in pitch as his muscles tense. His head drops to her shoulder and she feels him pulse under her hand, his low, rasping groans muffled against her neck.

He collapses almost bonelessly against her, just managing to hold himself up with his hands braced on the wall so as not to crush her. Feeling very smug, she presses a kiss to the sweat soaked hair over his temple. He hisses when she removes her hand from between them, feeling a damp patch forming on the fabric as she does.

"Sorry..." He pants sheepishly when he recovers enough to speak.

"What for?"

He raises his head, and she’s surprised to find he looks embarrassed. "Losing control like that, you must think I’m pathetic."

"Pathetic? Why would I think you enjoying yourself is pathetic?" She leans forward to press a soft kiss to his lips. "I loved seeing you like that."

"But you didn’t get to enjoy yourself too." He frowns adorably. She smiles at his flushed skin and mussed hair, and doesn’t feel as though she missed out in the slightest. It's empowering, the realisation that she can do all that to him with such little effort. She kisses him again, long and slow, sighing contentedly into his mouth as he sluggishly responds in kind.

"I’m sure you’ll find an opportunity to return the favour some time over the summer." She says as she breaks away with a wry smile. His own lips quirk upwards, and she swallows hard as she can practically hear the metaphorical cogs in his brain whirring as he considers that very enticing prospect.

In the distance, the bells of the Cathedral of the Dawn Father ring out ominously.

"Midnight. Scheiße." He sighs, pushing himself away from her and the wall unsteadily.

"At least we'll be back before Ferdinard." She smirks deviously, stretching out her tired limbs.

"Let’s hope we don’t get in too much trouble tomorrow. Who knows what he’s going to tell Master Starek."

"We’ll worry about that in the morning." She says around a yawn. Hand in hand, they make their way back to campus without incident, stopping periodically along the way to sneak kisses, Bren keeping his cloak close around himself despite the warm summer night air, self conscious about anyone noticing the evidence of their earlier fumble on his clothes.

They part at his door with a kiss that reignites some of their passion from before, a little spark of lust that seems to have boiled over into something new. Something equal parts thrilling and terrifying as it marks a new chapter in their lives. Their innocence is slipping away, their childhoods well and truly behind them now. Her time at the Academy has been the best time of her life so far without question, but it’s had its dark times too. She realises she’s grown up a lot this past year.

Forcing herself to part with him before they get carried away again, she walks the short distance to her own dorm and falls into bed fully clothed, too exhausted even to change. As she drifts off to sleep, she can’t help wondering what her next year at the Academy will bring. Whatever challenges may be coming her way, she feels more than ready to tackle them.


	8. Consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, warning, this is your official Icky Thong warning! He makes an appearance this chapter, so raise your cringe shields and brace for goosebumps.
> 
> Also, a brief glossary:  
> Yulisen - Exandrian Saturday  
> Da'leysen - Exandrian Sunday  
> Kuhscheiße - bullshit  
> Scheißkerl - asshole

The first year accommodation block is eerily quiet when Astrid wakes. Blinking bleary eyed against a bright beam of sunlight hitting her face, she can see through the window opposite her bed that the sun is beginning to creep it’s way over the high peaked roof of the library, which dwarfs their lower accommodation block to its west side, so she can tell it isn’t early. It shouldn’t be this quiet, even for Yulisen.

A few beds over on the same side of the room, she hears a pitifully groaned, "Too bright..." from one of her room mates, and starts to remember the night before.

 _Ah. That explains the silence then_. She thinks to herself, remembering the nearby inns packed with first year students celebrating the end of exams the night before. She doesn’t feel bad at all, a little delicate perhaps but no killer headache like last time at least, and that’s quite a relief.

There’s a sudden rustling sound and the padding of quick footsteps across the floorboards, then loud retching from the shared bathroom as one of the girls is sick. A few of the others groan quietly at the sound, turning over in their beds clearly with no intention of helping their friend. Astrid certainly isn’t going to help, they can all spill their guts for all she cares.

Sitting up and swinging her legs out of bed, she realises that she’s still wearing her clothes from last night, a pleated skirt dropping just below her knees, and a high-necked blouse, which she at least had the sense to unbutton a little before falling into bed. Slipping some shoes onto her still stockinged feet, she pads quietly over to the door.

The boy's dorm is even quieter than hers, though there is a dull chorus of gently snuffling snores from a few of the beds. Making her way over to Bren's, she lifts the covers and slides in beside him. He shifts immediately onto his side to hold her, an arm coming to rest over her waist as she faces him, a small smile plastered on his face. It’s become a bit of a routine now, her slipping under the covers with him on weekend mornings while he has a lie in. She’s quickly learnt to use his languishing in his pit to her advantage rather than trying and failing to convince him and Wulf to get up before midday on Yulisen and Da'leysen.

"My head is killing me." He whispers to her after a while, apparently having come to.

"You were a little tipsy last night. It’ll pass." She brings a hand up to rub soothing patterns over his scalp, and he rests his forehead against hers with a contented sigh. The by now familiar presence of his morning hardness resting against her leg prompts a sudden flashback to their antics in the alleyway last night, making her grin.

"What are you looking so happy about?" He asks suspiciously.

"Just remembering what we got up to last night..." She whispers, nuzzling his nose. His cheeks heat but his smirk is anything but bashful.

"What did you two get up to last night hmm?" Wulf asks from the bed closest to Bren's, his voice thick with sleep still but obviously amused. Their eyes widen as they both scrabble for an explanation.

"We... got Ferdinard arrested." Bren blurts out. Astrid's shoulders slump in relief till she remembers they actually sort of did and that there are bound to be consequences to that...

"You _what_!?" Wulf shouts, sitting up abruptly in a muddle of blankets and sheets, his pillow tumbling to the floor. Bren winces at the noise, head ducking under his quilt in protest.

"Shutup!" Someone whines from across the room, accompanied by a chorus of groans from the other boys in the dorm.

"Sorry, sorry..." Wulf apologises, huddling as close to Astrid and Bren as he can across the gap between the two beds, voice a loud hoarse whisper. "What the fuck? Details!"

"It wasn’t quite like that..." Astrid leans up on one elbow to see him better over Bren, who is still yet to emerge from his blankets. "We had a slight disagreement, and he didn’t take it well..."

"Kuhscheiße." Says Bren, muffled by the quilt that he promptly shrugs off, rolling over onto his back to look at Wulf. "She was amazing. It was literally the best thing I’ve ever seen."

"What did you say to him?" Wulf asks eagerly.

She winces as she recalls the gist of it, vowing for the second time this term never to drink again. "Basically that his friends only like him for his title and no one will ever fancy him."

"She said his family will buy him a posh wife who won’t let him shag her and he’ll have to pay for it for the rest of his life." Bren laughs, clamping a hand over his mouth to try to keep the noise down. Wulf opens his mouth wide, somewhere between shocked and overjoyed.

"Astrid, _you_ said all that?" She nods sheepishly.

"Not my finest hour."

"Like I said, Kuhscheiße. She was brilliant." Bren grins up at her, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear affectionately.

Wulf makes a gagging sound, grinning when Bren glares at him. "But how exactly did he end up getting arrested?"

"He tried to kill us." Bren shrugs nonchalantly.

"That’s a bit overdramatic." Astrid smiles at his eyebrow raised in response. "He wasn’t best pleased as you can imagine so he started firing off spells at us."

"And if any of them had hit us, we would have been badly hurt or worse. We both could have died Astrid." She bites her lip at the realisation that he’s right, and suddenly it all seems a lot more serious. "The crownsguard must have been patrolling nearby and came to see what was going on. They dragged him off and we ran."

"Scheißkerl. I bet he won’t even get expelled, his father will bribe his way out of trouble and he’ll carry on like nothing ever happened." Wulf says sourly, eyes narrowed.

"We’ll see. They’ll probably want to talk to us about it this morning. No doubt he’s already been spilling his guts trying to blame us." Bren sighs, rubbing his eyes wearily with the back of one hand. Astrid swallows hard beside him, his other hand finding hers under the covers to link their fingers together.

"Sorry your night was a bust." Wulf consoles, falling onto his back again to stare up at the ceiling. She and Bren exchange smirks in silent acknowledgement that the night wasn’t all bad.

"Do I want to ask how the rest of your night went?" Bren asks him warily, and Astrid prepares herself for far too much information from their friend.

Wulf huffs a little laugh. "Uhh... not as well as I’d hoped actually..."

Astrid opens her mouth to ask why but is interrupted by a sharp rap on the door. The unmistakable knock of Matron. With a squeak, she dives under the covers in an attempt at hiding that she knows is doomed with so little warning, but she has to at least try. In her defence, she thinks to herself as she hears the door open a few seconds later, Matron never usually bothers them at the weekend. _Probably too busy off kicking puppies or something..._

"Master Bren." She says in that sickly sweet way that tells them all she’s there because they’re in trouble. ".....Miss Astrid." Her voice deepens in contempt. Astrid pokes her head out from under the quilt and gives the woman her most winning and apologetic smile. Wulf snorts a laugh and Matron's attention snaps to him, eyes ablaze with anger. "You can wipe that grin off your face Master Eodwulf after what I caught you doing last night!" There’s a collective groan around the room at the noise level as she shouts shrilly at him, and this time it’s Astrid who has to hastily hide a laugh. _That's that mystery solved then..._ "Mark my words, I’ll be back to address that once I’ve finished with these two, so you can consider yourself under house arrest till I get back. Do not leave this room, understood?"

Wulf nods defeatedly, shrugging at Astrid and Bren when Matron turns back to them, a hint of a smirk on his lips.

"Your head of year and the Archmage of Civil Influence are waiting to speak with you both. Follow me at once." She turns on her heel to leave, the two of them exchanging worried looks as they scramble out of the little bed to trail behind her.

"Good luck." Wulf whispers to them as they leave.

When they reach Master Starek’s office, Matron raps on the door and waits to be told to enter, unlike when she knocks on the dorm room doors. “Master Starek, Archmage. The two students whose presence you requested.” She ushers them in impatiently before nodding subserviently to the two senior men and promptly closing the door behind her as she leaves.

Ferdinard is already there looking disheveled, tired, and absolutely seething. Despite her nerves, she can’t help but feel some satisfaction from seeing him in such a state. Then she remembers her unbrushed hair and creased, slept-in clothing and the victory seems less sweet. Starek is perched on his desk with his arms folded and looking cross, though she doesn’t recall having ever seen him not looking cross so that doesn’t mean much. Behind him, seated on Starek's leather studded chair, is a severe looking middle aged man with long, lank hair greying at the roots, clad in fine dark robes and with his hands neatly folded in his lap. She assumes this is the Archmage Matron mentioned, and everts her eyes in the vague hope of not attracting his attention.

"What an interesting tale I’ve been hearing of your shenanigans last night. Let’s hear it then. What have you got to say for yourselves?" Starek asks briskly.

Astrid quickly jumps in before Bren can lose his cool and say something he’ll regret later. "There was a verbal disagreement between myself and Ferdinard," she just about manages to say his name without gritting her teeth, "which led to him attacking us with magic in the street, Master."

"They attacked me first Sir! I acted in self defence only!" Ferdinard shouts, earning a narrow eyed look from the Archmage. He seems to shrink back under the man's gaze, his mouth set as he tries to recover by sticking his chin in the air loftily.

"We did not Master Starek, the first and last spell either of us cast was the shield I called up to protect us from his Magic Missiles." She protests, trying to keep her composure. Beside her she can feel how tense Bren is just by his stance, but he remains silent.

"I find that very hard to believe. You have been disciplined before for attacking Master Ferdinard, have you not? You expect me to believe he set upon you both for no reason?"

"There were... words exchanged... but that was all Sir, I swear..."

"Pish. You should know that the allegations against you both are extremely serious. Made worse by the fact that you fled the scene of the incident before the crownsguard could get hold of you. if that doesn’t prove your guilt I don’t know what does!" Astrid feels hot, angry tears prick in the corners of her eyes and tries to swallow them down before they can spill. "Master Ferdinard, of course you should not have retaliated. Using magic against your fellow students, regardless of the circumstances and in the streets no less, was regrettable. But I think that given you have spent the night in a jail cell, you have suffered quite enough punishment and are therefore excused."

Bren huffs mirthlessly. When she looks up at him she finds him biting his cheek, eyes raised to the ceiling, angry but defeated. Ferdinard stands and makes his way out, fixing her with a smug grin as he passes her.

"As for the pair of you," Starek continues when Ferdinard has left, "you are a disgrace to the Academy. Your behaviour, your conduct, your blatant disregard for the rules. One would think that having been plucked from nothing you would desire to make the most of such an incredible opportunity, but you seem determined to squander it! You give me no option but to exp..."

"Master Starek." The Archmage interrupts, holding up a hand. Starek pauses mid sentence, conceding immediately to the other man's authority. "I appreciate that your position grants you some power over first year students but the decision to expel pupils must be first agreed by the headmaster himself or by another member of the Cerberus Assembly, is that not the case?"

Starek seems momentarily stunned. "Well... yes Archmage but I... forgive me, are you not in agreement?"

"I am not. Being the Archmage of Civil Influence, this incident was of course brought to my attention first thing this morning due to its very public nature."

"Yes, of course Archmage..."

"And as such, an account from the crownsguard captain responsible for the arrest was sought to determine the details of the incident. You were there when the account was given."

"I was Archmage..."

"Do you find yourself afflicted with a disorder of the ears or mind Master Starek? Because I have no such afflictions, and I find I do not recall the captain recounting any detail which incriminated these two students."

Starek's mouth opens and closes a few times, the tips of his ears flushing. "My faculties are in full working order Archmage I can assure you... but we do not know the circumstances leading to Master Ferdinard's actions, they could well have been made in self defence..."

"Three offensive spells discharged at two fleeing students does not seem to me to be a defensive exercise. What happened beforehand is a case of his word against theirs and will regrettably remain so without reliable witness testimony. But without proof that these two students actually committed any offence, expelling them would seem unfair, would it not, Master Starek?"

The Archmage's cool gaze makes clear that his question is rhetorical, and Master Starek seems to almost physically deflate as he bows his head submissively. "Yes, Archmage Ikithon."

"Good. I’m glad that we agree." Archmage Ikithon rises smoothly from his seat and addresses Astrid and Bren directly for the first time. "I hope I will not hear of any more unfortunate incidents involving yourselves before the term is concluded. Do not disappoint me... You are both dismissed."

Offering hastily mumbled thanks, they flee the office as quickly as they can, both breathing loud sighs of relief as soon as the door closes behind them.

"I wouldn’t celebrate just yet if I were you." Matron's sharp, thready voice makes them both jump as she appears to one side of them in the hallway. "You will accompany me back to the accommodation block where I will hand out an appropriate punishment to you, Master Eodwulf and Miss Mura following your blatant disregard for the rules surrounding propriety. Come along now."

Bren groans quietly and takes her hand as they follow the older woman once more. "We can’t catch a break today." He whispers to her.

"On the contrary, Master Ikithon just gave us a huge break." She smiles at him.

"Yea, true. I wonder why he stood up for us like that? Did you see Starek? I thought he was going to explode." Bren chuckles under his breath. Astrid giggles, earning a sneering backward glance from Matron.

"Maybe he’s just a nice guy." She shrugs, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

On the way back to the boy's dorm Matron stops to collect Mura from hers on the floor below, and exchanging only grim smiles in greeting, they ascend the stairs in silence. The room is quiet once again, Wulf and all of the other boys occupying it having made the most of the peace to go back to sleep. Instructing them to wait in the corridor, Matron strides over to Wulf's bed and throws his covers back roughly. He sits up with a start, blinking in the brightly sunlit room as he scrubs a hand through his hair.

"Come along Master Eodwulf. Quickly." She says loudly enough to make him grimace. He obeys sluggishly, snatching a shirt up from the floor and throwing it on as he follows her out. Joining them in the corridor, he winks at Mura who beams as she bats her lashes at him.

"What happened?" He whispers to Astrid and Bren as they follow Matron back down the corridor again.

"Disaster averted. Just. Tell you later." Bren whispers back with a sigh.

Matron leads them briskly down to the kitchens, and suddenly Astrid understands. The huge pile of dirty breakfast dishes piled up beside two enormous ceramic basins set into the worktop gives her a pretty good clue as to what their punishment is. Wulf sighs, rolling his eyes. This is not his first rodeo after all, just the latest in a long line of inventive punishments Matron has dolled out to him over the past year.

"When you first arrived you were told that while student relationships are permitted, physical contact of a romantic nature is _strictly_ prohibited, were you not?"

"Yes Matron." They mumble collectively.

"And yet all of you have chosen to ignore this rule. Some more brazenly than others..." she glares at Wulf, who tries his best to look abashed but fails miserably when a smirk slips onto his face. Matron sighs irritably. "Next year I expect to see a marked improvement in your behaviour. I have a whole summer to think up punishments, and believe me, it will give me immense pleasure to inflict them on you should the need arise. For the last week of term, all four of you will be on washing up duty, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Fortunate, isn’t it, that you do not have compulsory classes this coming week so that such a thing is possible. Boys, you will start immediately, girls, I have something for you both before you join them."

Astrid and Mura exchange concerned looks, watching as Matron retrieves two mugs from the counter top. She hands one to each of them with a twisted smile. Astrid looks at the insipid, puce liquid inside and nearly gags.

"It smells like cabbage water." Mura complains, pinching her nose between two fingers. "Please don’t tell me we have to drink this..."

"You do." Matron stands with her arms crossed watching them sternly, though Astrid is surprised to see something akin to concern in her expression too. "You are aware, I presume, how infants come to be?"

Astrid blushes, fixing her eyes on the tea with a little nod.

"Then you will understand that protecting yourselves is imperative if you are going to decide to break the rules. Pregnancy is easily prevented by promptly drinking a tea, such as this one, that you can obtain from any apothecary. Don’t be put off by the taste, this is my own invention and it’s meant to be unpleasant, usually they are quite palatable. But please girls, understand how important it is that you are responsible. It’s all fun and games till you find yourselves up to your eyeballs in soiled nappies and screaming infants before your time." She offers them both a surprisingly motherly smile, before clapping her hands together enthusiastically. "Now drink up."

For about three seconds, Astrid considers that given her very heartfelt advice, maybe Matron isn’t so bad after all. Until she tastes the tea. Matron watches them like a hawk as they splutter and grimace their way through their respective mugs until every last drop is gone. Taking their cups to the sink, they join the boys in tackling the mountain of washing up, Matron leaving them to it after a few minutes.

"I wouldn’t mind," Astrid begins, still wincing at the lingering taste in her mouth, "but we didn’t even... you know. I was fully clothed. I only came in for a cuddle."

"Cuddles are strictly prohibited!" Wulf shrieks, mocking Matron's voice. "We didn’t either, she caught us before the good bit." He grins lewdly at Mura, who blows a handful of bubbles at him.

"How many times have you been caught this year Wulf?" Asks Bren, drying a seemingly never ending stack of plates. The larger boy tilts his head, narrowing his eyes in thought.

"Nine I think."he answers eventually. Mura bristles a little beside him. "But the best were with you obviously." He ventures, attempting to recover the situation. The other girl huffs, but acquiesces when he kisses her on the cheek, rewarding him with a simpering smile. Settling in to get through the dishes, Astrid can’t help but feel a little bit sorry for Mura, knowing that Wulf is leading her on.

The rest of the week drags, their dish duty taking up so much time that it’s barely worth even trying to get out of school to enjoy the sunshine. Astrid is consoled at least by the thought that they have a whole two months off together starting in just a few days, but being cooped up indoors with such a monotonous task certainly does make her think long and hard about the dangers of getting caught with Bren next year. She begins to contemplate ways to avoid discovery, which she’s quite sure was the complete opposite of what Matron had in mind when she doled out this punishment, and that only makes Astrid feel more determined to get the better of her.

The breakfast session of the last day before the holidays are due to begin, all four of them are uncharacteristically subdued. Even Frans comments on it as he goes about his duties preparing for the upcoming lunch service.

"Why are you all moping? Cheer up, school's out tomorrow."

"Results day." Wulf answers sombrely, and that’s all the explanation Frans needs. He hurries off with a little nod and a mumbled "Good luck", not exactly instilling any of them with confidence.

Once the dishes are all washed and dried, unusually reluctant to leave the kitchens, they make their way to the banquet hall where the results are being handed out. Climbing the stone steps into the imposing building, Astrid's mood is a far cry from the excitement she felt just a few short months ago when the formal was held here. The space inside is back to its usual cold, grey, bare walls to emphasise the point.

They join the line of students filing slowly toward the front of the hall where a long table has been set up, teachers handing out rolled pieces of parchment from four points labelled a-f, g-l, m-r and s-z. The queue splits four ways as they near the table, students moving to their designated lines according to name.

Before heading off to her queue, Mura makes a big show of kissing Wulf farewell, as though any student found to have failed will be immediately dragged from the hall and never heard from again. Wulf goes along with it, but looks bemusedly to Astrid and Bren once she’s gone.

"She actually likes me doesn’t she." He states dejectedly. His friends are no help, both chortling as quietly as they can in the hushed hall. "Thanks a lot." He grouses. "It's just meant to be a bit of fun. Why are girls such weirdos?"

"Pfft..." Astrid begins, her retort dying on her lips as the student ahead of her moves to the table to collect their scroll, and suddenly it's her turn. Bren squeezes her hand briefly in support before she heads up to collect her own. The teacher roots around in the box in front of her for a moment before handing her the piece of rolled parchment disinterestedly. She takes it and heads towards the exit to wait for the others outside.

When all three make it back out to the steps, they take a collective deep breath and unbound them, speed reading down the lengthy page of scores and class marks to the only thing they care about currently. And there it is, right at the bottom, the word Astrid was desperate to see; PASS.

She lets out a guttural sigh of relief, shoulders slumping as though a huge weight has been lifted from them. She looks to the others to gauge their reactions and finds them in a similar state.

"Looks like we’ll be coming back for round two after all." Grins Wulf, pulling them both in for a bone crushing hug.

Astrid can only laugh, overjoyed and giddy at the prospect of what the next year might hold in store for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summer break time! Well... to Blumenthal at least. The perfect place for fun, teenage romance, a little drama... and for me to kick you in the feels a little bit ;)
> 
> Thank you so much for your lovely comments and kudos so far, they are so very appreciated! xx


	9. Coming Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally managed to finish and edit this chapter, sorry for the wait!  
> Trigger warning for brief discussion of violent abuse in this one.
> 
> And some translations, mostly consisting of made up place names, family, and swearing, because who doesn’t want to learn more about that? (Disclaimer, my three years of learning German at school did not cover much of this stuff sadly, so if anyone reading this is a native German speaker, I can only apologise for my inevitable mistakes!)
> 
> Krumme Lake - Crooked Lake  
> Krähe Farm - Crow Farm  
> Felsbrocken Hills - Boulder Hills  
> Weißer Drache - White Dragon  
> Mutter - Mother  
> Götter - Gods  
> Vater - Father  
> Oma - Grandmother  
> Scheiße - Crap  
> Hurensohn - Son of a whore  
> Wertloses Stück Scheiße - Worthless piece of shit  
> (Wow, that list started off so wholesome and ended on a real low...)

" _Astrid... Astrid?_ "

She wakes with a start, confused for a moment as her brain struggles to catch up through the fog of sleep. The first thing she notices is that she’s moving, a bumpy jarring motion that makes her feel ill. Forcing her eyes open, she squints in the dim light and finds Bren looking down at her with a small amused smile, her head pillowed against his shoulder. Finally shaking off the worst of her sleep-addled daze, she remembers that they’re in a carriage heading home.

"How long have we been on the road?"

"A few hours, we're nearly there now. That’s why I woke you." Bren presses a kiss to her forehead and helps her to sit upright, rolling his shoulder and stretching as best he can in the confined space. The carriage is cramped and shabby, but considering the Academy is paying for it they can’t really complain.

Eodwulf is lounging on the padded bench opposite, reading a text book and looking thoroughly bored. His foot is shaking compulsively, something Astrid knows he does when he’s nervous.

Still groggy and feeling unwell with the excessive rocking motion of the poorly maintained carriage, she focuses her attention outside, peering through the tiny grimy window pane in the door on her side. Countryside she recognises rolls past, the cedar woods along the edge of the northern road, a small stream meandering through the ditch to the other side of them that she knows leads eventually to Krumme Lake. Beyond the stream lies the fertile meadows of Krähe Farm, it’s fields a tall sea of rich grass almost ready to be cut for hay and the modest freshly whitewashed farmhouse all the more stark against the looming shadows of the low Felsbrocken Hills in the distance.

It’s been months since she was last home for winter break, but she feels largely the same now as she did then, an odd sense of not really belonging here any more. She grew up with this scenery for sixteen years, but it feels alien to her now. It makes her a little sad that Blumenthal no longer feels like home.

The forest on the other side of the road gives way to more sprawling farmland, a mosaic of gently sloping green and brown fields populated by various crops and grazing animals as far as the eye can see. And there, tucked into a broad river valley amongst the fields, is the familiar sight of Blumenthal. The road veers sharply to the right as the carriage begins its descent towards the town, the efficiently farmed pastures of the planes above giving way to vast sloping meadows of vibrant wildflowers in full bloom, giving the town its name.

Being a simple farming community well into the safety of the Empire's territory, there are no gates or watchtowers to mark the town's boundary, just a slightly faded sign and a gradually increasing number of dwellings along the roadside. The first that they pass is the grand white stone Blumenthal manor, set high up on the valley side away from the town's masses. Astrid has never even seen the Lord who owns it, he visits infrequently and has his official residence in Rexxentrum, according to her mother. She also knows he has two sons, both of whom her mother has identified as legitimate options as suitors for her should they ever become resident here. It dawns on her once more that she’s going to have to spend months living with the insufferable woman again, and she almost groans out loud.

The manor is surrounded by extensive fenced parkland of neatly trimmed grass, a statement on the wealth of its owner that such fertile land is simply left to be beautiful rather than utilised. She peers up the long, tree-lined, stone paved drive as they pass, a small gatehouse to one side of the closed entrance adding to the intrigue of the place, and she wonders as she has all her life just what the house looks like inside. " _Splendid_ ", her mother would say as if it were obvious, despite never having been in there herself.

The next set of dwellings they come to, separated from Blumenthal Manor's parklands by a sparse smattering of trees amongst the wildflower meadows, are the tiny schoolhouse, a collection of ancient looking cottages, and the blacksmith's forge.

She looks back to Wulf as they pass by, noticing him staring blankly into his book and biting his bottom lip hard, pressed as far into the little bench as his large frame will allow. She takes his hand, and is glad when he doesn’t pull it away as he might have when they made this journey in the winter, before they were as close as they now are. Bren scowls as he looks out of the window on his side of the carriage when the forge rolls past, his contempt for Wulf's father clear.

Next on the road comes the mill, the old stone building built into the banks of the river which cuts through the entire length of the valley floor, it’s enormous moss covered oak wheel turning steadily with the water's flow.

The river crosses the path of the road here, a wide stone bridge spanning it in a low arc. Across this bridge the number of buildings increases sharply, until houses run almost uninterrupted along both sides of the road and small side streets and lanes begin to split off from it. The main square comes into view, barely changed since the last time she saw it, albeit not now covered in a blanket of grey slushed snow. The carriage comes to a jolting stop alongside the Weißer Drache, the largest of the town's three inns, and Astrid's stomach is very grateful for the halt in momentum.

"Are you alright Wulf? We could ask if the driver might drop us closer to mine?" Bren asks hesitantly. _Further from your father's place_ she knows he means.

"No, it’s alright. The walk will be good after being cooped up for so long." Wulf sits up straight with a deep sigh, flexing his shoulders and rubbing his neck wearily. "We can help you home with your bags on the way Astrid."

"I won’t turn down that offer, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to traipsing them up the slope alone." She smiles at him, opening the door. With the driver's help, they fetch their bags down from the luggage rack on the roof and load up like pack horses, setting off in the direction of her parent’s house.

Situated halfway up a steeply inclining cobbled lane running up one side of the valley, the house while moderate in size is almost as immaculately kept at Blumenthal Manor, and vaguely resembles it in some ways. Two potted laurel shrubs sit either side of the door in homage to the large potted spruces that adorn the front porch of the manor. The wooden weather boards are painted brilliant white, and there is a stone path flanked by short trimmed grass leading up to the front door. The laurels are a new addition she notes, grousing under her breath at how ridiculous the place looks.

"Wow." Comments Bren, setting down her bag which he had been holding. "The Lord of Blumenthal Manor might get confused and end up here if he ever comes back." He smirks at her.

"Don’t." She groans. "Two months with the woman. I’m not sure how I’ll cope."

"I’m going to miss being so close to you all the time." He says sadly, taking her in his arms.

"That’s my cue to leave. See you Astrid." Wulf drops her other bag and scarpers a little way back down the lane to wait for Bren.

"Bye Wulf." She calls after him distractedly, her head resting against Bren's chest as they hold each other. "Can I come and see you every day?" She asks, only realising how pathetic it sounds when the words have already left her mouth.

"You’d better." He replies, and her stomach flutters warmly.

She tilts her head up and presses her lips to his, the kiss deepening quickly to a long, slow slide of tongues that neither of them are in a hurry to break. Eventually she pulls away, cheeks flushed, hair mussed, and missing him already.

"I’d better go before my mother sees us together. I’ll have to tell her about us at some point, but she'll never let me hear the end of it I expect. See you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." He confirms, kissing her one last time before turning reluctantly to meet up with Wulf.

She watches them go until they round the bend at the bottom of the hill, gathering up her bags before heading to the door. It opens before she has a chance to knock, her mother looking down at her sternly. _Great, that’s the cat out of the bag..._

"Cavorting with the Ermendrud boy in public like that... I have raised you better Astrid, honestly! What will the neighbours think?"

"Hello Mutter. Nice to see you too." She grouses, trudging past her into the hallway with her bags.

"I told you he was trouble. Why don’t you ever listen to me?"

"I’m seventeen, I can make up my own mind."

"Don’t be smart with me! Oh Astrid..." her shoulders slump melodramatically. "You could do so much better. Why do you have to lower yourself to a no good farmhand?"

"He’s not a farmhand! He's studying the arcane arts at the Academy, remember? And he’s actually really good at it, better than me even..."

"Until he drops out or worse gets himself thrown out. He hasn’t the aptitude for it, you mark my words." Astrid barely hides a wince. There was no way she was ever going to tell her mother how close they both came to being expelled, but now she’s even more determined that the woman never finds out as she continues her tirade. "Please don’t tell me you’ve allowed him to defile your maidenhood?"

" _Götter_ , Mutter!" She covers her face with her hands and knows she’s flushing crimson under her fingers. "Stop!"

"Well have you?"

"Nein!"

The sitting room door squeaks open, her father entering with a gentle smile. "Ah, Astrid you’re home. How was your journey?"

"Hello Vater..."

"You make sure you keep it that way." Her mother continues to scold her, ignoring her father completely. The mild mannered man purses his lips, giving her sympathetic smile before scuttling back off into the sitting room meekly, ever keen to avoid her mother when she’s in one of her moods. "I’ve a mind to write a strongly worded letter to the Academy about this. Encouraging gods knows what sort of behaviour, allowing students to fraternise, and fornicate..."

"You do that." Astrid mutters, pushing past her mother to take her things upstairs.

"Young lady I am not finished with you! That boy is not to step foot inside this house, do you understa-" Astrid hears before slamming her bedroom door closed behind her. Dropping her bags and falling onto the bed, she screams into her pillow frustratedly.

************

"Sounds like you had a great welcome home." Wulf smirks when she meets up with the boys the next day. The weather is predictably wet and miserable for the first day of the holidays, so they’ve taken shelter in the run down old barn on Bren's parent's small holding. The chickens have had the same idea, and Astrid shoos one away as it pecks at her shoelace, still in a bad mood after her mother's rant.

"Don’t, it was awful. I had to skip breakfast and climb out of my bedroom window to avoid her this morning. She said she’s going to write a letter to the Academy about them encouraging us to fraternise and have sex and stuff." Wulf let’s out a booming laugh, almost falling off his hay bale seat. The chickens scatter in fright, retreating to the far end of the leaky barn in a flurry of red and brown feathers. "It’s not funny Wulf!" But she can’t help her lips quirking into a small smile at his reaction, conceding that it actually is kind of funny.

"I’m sorry it went badly, I didn’t mean to get you into trouble." Bren squeezes her hand, leaning into her side comfortingly from his position beside her on the top of the log store.

"It wasn’t your fault, my mother is just horrible. I think I actually hate her. Oh, and you’re not allowed in my house by the way."

"You’ll just have to come here more often then." He smiles at her affectionately. She smiles back shyly and leans up to kiss him.

"Gods... you two are definitely going to have done the deed by the end of the holidays." Wulf grins at them both. "Just let me know if you need me to make myself scarce for a while." Astrid makes a choked sound, her eyes going wide.

"So are you missing Mura already Wulf? How many girls have you got on the go at the moment?" Bren retorts with his own grin. Wulf doesn’t look in the least bit ashamed, in fact he looks positively chuffed with himself.

"Three now. It’s getting a bit much if I’m honest, I’ll be glad of the break."

Bren snorts amusedly, Astrid sighing despairingly. "And no doubt you’ll find some poor local girl to pursue while we’re home."

"Astrid, you underestimate me. Just the one?"

"Do try to remember they have fathers here who’ll knock your head off if they find out. And that it’ll reflect badly on my parents if you start screwing your way around Blumenthal while you’re staying under their roof." Bren reminds him pointedly, and Wulf does actually have the presence of mind to look sheepish at that.

"Right. Good point. I’ll have to be extra sneaky." Bren shoots him a withering look. "I’m kidding, I’ll behave." _I’ll believe that when I see it_ , Astrid thinks to herself, but it’s only fair to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least to begin with. "So are we going to spend the whole of the holidays cooped up in here with the chickens?"

"It’s raining." Astrid replies seriously.

"And? Will you melt in the rain?"

"Alright smart arse. I’d rather not get soaked if I can avoid it. It’s not even been one day, you can’t be bored already?" She asks incredulously. He jumps down from his bale, stretching.

"Once again, you underestimate me." He grins at her.

"What do you propose we do?" Asks Bren, leaning back against the barn's cladding, not looking in a particular hurry to go out in the rain. Astrid wonders when they became so sedentary, so used to creature comforts given their pretty wild upbringing out in all weathers every day. After wanting so badly to be all grown up when she was younger, she feels a sudden pang of sadness at the realisation that at sixteen and seventeen, their childhoods are all but over. That short window of time where silliness and innocent games are allowed without judgement is already closing, and she doesn’t feel ready.

"Race to the top of the paddock?" Wulf answers after a moment's thought. Bren looks unconvinced, and while Astrid initially has her doubts, her thoughts on their dwindling childhood give her a sudden change of heart. One day soon they’ll all have to grow up, but not today.

Without warning, she throws herself off the log store and sprints out into the rain. She hears Wulf's surprised yelp, his footfalls following close behind once he gets over his shock, Bren adding a third set of squelching steps to the race soon after. She laughs as the rain pelts her, the summer warmed droplets far more pleasant than she expected in the humid air. Considering her height, she’s faster than she looks but even with her brief advantage, Wulf still just manages to beat her in the end with his much longer strides. They skid to a halt in the mud at the paddock fence, red faced and laughing as they catch their breath.

"Nice of you to join us." Wulf teases as Bren catches them up a good ten seconds after they finish, having obviously given up trying to keep pace with them almost as soon as he left the barn.

"I know when I’m beaten. So now that we’re already soaked, what did you plan on doing next?" He asks, climbing up to sit on the fence.

"Not a clue. Astrid? You’re good at ordering us about, what are we doing now?"

She opens her mouth to protest before proudly realising that he’s right and shrugging in agreement. "We could walk down to the river and try to catch fish at Bard's Rock? Like you said, we’re wet already. Why not start the holidays with a traditional Zemnian past time. And that way, maybe my mother won’t skin me alive for coming home in this state with no explanation."

In the absence of any better ideas, the boys agree and the trio heads down the valley through the wooded hills that separate Bren's small family farm from the town proper. Reaching the shaded path that runs parallel with the torrent of water, they follow it until they reach a sharp kink in the river, the effect of the bank almost doubling back on itself slowing the torrid flow to a gentle meander. Here, the shallows are home to plentiful roach, perch and chub, and this spot has long been the venue for the town's traditional hand catching competition, held every summer. In Astrid's experience, it’s mostly an excuse for the men of the town to get blind drunk and mess around in the river for a few hours, but many of them seem to take it extremely seriously, her own father included.

But it’s the story of this place that’s much more interesting to her than their beer fuelled shenanigans. Bard's Rock was apparently, according to local legend, the site of a torrid love affair between a bard and a druid, hundreds of years ago. A tale of forbidden love, longing and ultimately tragedy, it had been one of her Oma's favourite stories to tell when she was a little girl. Though it was only when the subject came up many years later with her giggling girl friends that Astrid had heard the full unabridged and shockingly filthy version, with all the sordid details thrown in.

As a result, the rock itself had over time become a popular spot for liaisons between young lovers in the town, and thus the setting for much of her friend's most salacious gossip. Glancing skeptically at the flat topped, moss covered rock, Astrid can think of plenty of places she’d rather be intimate with someone.

"Go on then Wulf. Get it out of your system." She hears Bren sigh, turning to see their large friend grinning up at the rock.

"Berda Bäckerin, last winter break. First time I gave a girl an orgasm. It was a proud moment." Bren immediately bursts out laughing, and at this point Astrid suspects he’s encouraging Wulf on purpose.

"I will never be more traumatised than I am right now." Astrid says dryly, clambering up the stony bank below Bard's rock for a good vantage point to spot fish from.

"See anything?" Bren calls up to her once he’s stopped laughing enough to talk.

"A few milling about towards the middle, but it’s a bit deep there. Oh, there’s a shoal of chub just about to go past you on that side... or are they roach? Scheiße, I’ve never been any good at telling them apart, fish, there are some fish there." She points at the small shoal of silver and rust coloured fish she can see slowly making their way along the shallow stretch of water just upstream from the boys. It takes them a moment to spot the fish without the height advantage she has, but when they do she watches as they both wade into the water up to their knees and wait.

Bren has the opportunity to make the first grab as one of the fish slips almost straight into his waiting hands, but he’s just a fraction of a second too slow, spooking it into a darting pace far too fast for him to catch. Wulf has even less luck, losing both the fish he was aiming for and his footing, ending up falling backwards into the water with a dull splash.

"Hurensohn!"

Astrid snorts a laugh from her perfect vantage point, Wulf immediately turning to glare up at her, which only makes her laugh harder. She squeals as he kicks a spray of cold water up over her.

"Why don’t you come down here and have a go, see how well you do?" He gripes, standing up and inspecting his sodden trousers.

"I don’t need to." She smirks, crouching on the high bank and stretching her fingers out. She casts mage hand underwater at a pinch point in the riverbed, waiting patiently for a fish to swim into range below her, both boys watching intrigued. It doesn’t take long before an unsuspecting fish swims into the near invisible trap, the translucent hand closing around it and lifting it from the water. Her triumph is short lived though when the thrashing fish manages to free itself, plopping back into the river and speeding off.

"Nearly. It was a good plan." Bren consoles, smiling up at her.

"Cheating is what it was." Wulf puts his hands on his hips and grins. "But if you’re too scared to come down here and get wet with the rest of us mere mortals..."

"When did we ever say we couldn’t use magic? I’m just using my initiative, but if you prefer falling on your arse to using your brain, who am I to argue." She begins to clamber down anyway, never one to resist a challenge, pausing to roll her skirt up to her knees before stepping into the water with them.

"Using magic isn’t a bad idea. And to be fair, we’re not exactly doing great so far." Bren holds out a hand to help her across the uneven ground, which she accepts despite it not being necessary. While she appreciates the gesture, it makes her more determined to show him she’s not some delicate flower that might blow over in a strong breeze. She bends over to wait for another shoal of fish to come along, hands poised in the gently churning water.

Just as she’s about to make a grab for a passing fish, she hears Wulf speak the verbal components of a spell, just looking up in time to see him grasp something in the water with a triumphant laugh. He hisses as he juggles a very stiff looking fish in his hands, the creature covered in a layer of spiky barbs of frost.

"I thought you said using magic was cheating?" She says in mock outrage as he tosses the frozen solid fish onto the bank.

"Well you know, if you can’t beat them join them." He smiles smugly. She shakes her head and bends ready to try again, nearly jumping out of her skin when there’s a loud, muffled pop from across the other side of the river channel, a blast of water suddenly shooting upwards and spreading out in the air as it rains back down, drenching all three of them. Bren strides through the water to inspect the site of the blast, picking up a limp fish from the surface.

"Did you just use Ice Knife as a fishing technique?" Wulf looks incredulously at the auburn haired teen, who has by now collected four motionless fish.

"It worked, look." He deposits his catch onto the river bank. "Admittedly, I didn’t expect it to go that well. Though... I may have scared all the other fish away."

Astrid bursts out laughing, almost falling over and only just catching herself with her hands on her knees. "A year of intense academic study with some of the best mages in the Empire, and this is what we’re doing with it..." She and Wulf begin to make their way back to the bank to join Bren.

"It’s weird though," he says, sitting on a rock and taking his boots off to tip the water out of them, "having all this power available to us. I didn’t really think about it much at school, its all so regulated. It's just become so _normal_ to cast spells every day. I used to think creating Dancing Lights to read in my bedroom at night was so incredible when I was young. Now, look at us."

"Murdering fish with ridiculously overpowered spells because we’re bored." Wulf chuckles, making a futile attempt at wringing out the bottom of his shirt.

"Exactly. And look at how close Ferdinard came to doing us some serious damage the other week. Even when we’ve been planning our futures, thinking about our careers in magic, it never really occurred to me how dangerous it is. How dangerous _we_ are now."

Astrid quirks an eyebrow at that as she rakes her fingers through her hair to try to tame it a bit. "Scary thought. Do you think anyone else sees it that way? Imagine our families and friends being scared of us?"

"I can see the appeal." Wulf says darkly. "I want my father to be scared of me, just like I used to be scared of him. And you know, I’d be lying if I said I’d never considered killing him before. Now it would be even easier."

"You don’t mean that." Astrid rests a hand on his arm. "I know you don’t mean that. You’re not a murderer Wulf."

"I know." He sighs and nudges his arm against her shoulder affectionately. "I'm just saying I’ve thought about it, I’d never actually do it. I’m not going to prison for that Wertloses Stück Scheiße."

Bren shakes the last few drips from his boots and begins to put them back on. "At least you know now if he comes near you, you can defend yourself."

"That hasn’t really been the problem for a few years now. Ever since I started working the forge, I could have easily matched him in a fight, especially when he was drunk. I just sort of... froze up, like all the strength went out of me when he used to hit me. It was like a habit I couldn’t get out of. It was bad enough when I was a kid, but then as I got older it felt more and more like I was just giving in and letting him do it. Like I sort of deserved it for not standing up for myself. And my mother always treated it like it was some shameful secret, like it was our fault for making him angry. I know that’s stupid, but it's only since I could talk about it to you two that I’ve started to realise it wasn’t my fault after all."

Astrid can’t think of anything to say to that, everything whirling around her mind just feels inadequate. So she pulls him into a tight hug instead, closing her eyes against the threatening tears and swallowing the lump in her throat. Wulf rests his chin on the top of her head, one of his bulky arms encircling her shoulders. When she opens her eyes again, Bren is at his other side with an arm slung around Wulf's back.

"I really love the Academy for everything it has to teach us, but I think I might love it even more for bringing us together." She says eventually, when she’s certain she won’t cry as soon as she speaks. "That sounds really soppy doesn’t it..?"

"Ja." Bren grins as the three of them break the hug. "But true."

"We are great." Wulf adds with a smile. They gather up three of the fish from the bank, leaving the two horribly frost damaged ones behind as they head back towards the town, waterlogged boots squelching along the muddy path.

"You should come to mine to eat these." Bren says to her, holding up the fish, "My mother won’t stop going on about meeting you. I think she’s planning our wedding in her head."

Astrid laughs nervously. "I am not meeting your mother looking like a drowned rat. Besides, I have met her before. I mean, not _met_ met, but I’ve seen her lots of times in town. And when our parents came to wave us off for the Academy when we first left. She hugged me and wished me good luck."

"Well now she wants to meet you as my girlfriend. Apparently, that changes everything according to her, and it’s absolutely imperative that she meets you as soon as possible."

Astrid sighs, trying to sound all cool and begrudging, but she’s secretly delighted at him calling her his girlfriend, as she is every time he says it. "All right... But you have to meet my mother too."

He wheels around to look at her, nearly falling over a tree root sticking up from the path. "You want me to meet your mother? Your mother who yelled at you because we kissed in public. Your mother who hates me and thinks I’ve stolen your virginity."

"Yes."

"Why?" He stops walking, utterly bewildered.

"Because it’ll be hilarious." Wulf grins.

She returns his smile, nodding towards him. "You know me so well Wulf. Yes. Yes it will be. What’s the harm? She can’t hate you any more than she does now."

"Fine, I’ll meet her, if she’ll even let me into the house. And I’m going to make the best impression anyone's ever made in the history of bringing their boyfriend home, just to ruin your fun."

"I can't wait." Astrid beams as they start walking again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing the description of Blumenthal, stuck it in a valley, and only then thought to investigate whether it translated into anything. It actually seems to loosely translate into flower valley (Blumental), which is quite sweet if intentional. Or Matt/Liam randomly named it after the English chef with the same surname, who knows!


	10. The Ermendruds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So first off, apologies for having taken so long to update. First, I decided it was a great idea to write this *short* little fic idea I had alongside this one, which despite having planned it out thoroughly, took a lot longer than expected. And then of course, there's been the little matter of a global pandemic and my two children suddenly not only being at home all the time, but deciding sleep is for the weak.
> 
> By way of an apology, I do have two chapters to upload in quick succession. Yay!
> 
> (This one has a very brief, tame bit of smut towards the end, probably not even smut at all but just in case, I’ll add the warning.)
> 
> And a very short glossary this time as most are fairly obvious at this point;  
> Mein kleiner junge - my little boy  
> Brussendar - one of the summer months of the Exandrian calendar

After changing her clothes for the fourth time, Astrid is finally forced to make a decision on what to wear by time itself, or a distinct lack of it. She closes the front door behind her with a purposefully brief goodbye to her parents, her mother’s shrill reminder through the window that she must be back home before full dark following her as she hurries down the lane towards the edge of the village.

It’s been a stiflingly hot day and the late afternoon air is sweltering, humidity clinging to her skin in a layer of damp that’s both uncomfortable and she’s sure makes her look awful. It’s not exactly how she’d pictured turning up to meet Bren's parents.

As the sun begins to sink lower over the valley the heat dissipates minutely, a stiff breeze rising over the hillside the small holding is situated on, but it does little to cool her down. She’s sure her racing heart and nerves probably aren’t helping matters.

The modest farmhouse finally comes into view between the trees. Sitting in a clearing on the edge of the woods lining this part of the valley, it is mercifully well shaded, and though the breeze is stifled somewhat through the trees, it's still much cooler than the exposed fields and meadows closer to home.

Although she’s seen it in passing before, a few times when she and her friends played in the woods as children, and only a few days ago when she’d come to meet Bren and Wulf in the barn, she’s never ventured close to the house itself or payed much attention to it. The farmyard peels off to the eastern side of the building, the barn and sheep pens neatly arranged in a loose triangle with the house, with a cast iron water pump in the middle of it all. A short, stocky piebald horse nickers at her from the gate of the paddock attached to the barn, the only other signs of life in the farmyard an aged ginger cat washing itself on the front door step and the small flock of chickens scratching at the hard packed dirt.

When she raises a shaking hand to knock on the door the cat jumps up eagerly, anticipating it opening. He mews up at her plaintively while they wait, scrambling through the door as soon as there’s a gap big enough, almost tripping Bren in the process.

"Scheiße Frumpkin... Hello." His grin upon seeing her eases her nerves a little.

"Hello." She smiles back, aiming for confident but knowing she looks just as scared as she feels.

He kisses her cheek and whispers, "You’ll be fine. They’re going to love you."

"Bren Aldric Ermendrud, I hope I didn’t just hear you swear in front of our guest." A motherly voice sounds from somewhere inside in a warning tone. Astrid bites back a giggle as Bren winces. "The poor girl hasn’t even stepped foot inside the house yet and you’re cursing like sailor in a harbour-side tavern."

He moves aside to make space for Astrid to enter the small hallway, grumbling under his breath. "She’s never even seen the ocean, let alone a sailor..." then raises his voice to call out, "Sorry Mutter!"

She follows him along the hall and into a snug sitting room, cooking smells wafting in through the open kitchen door. Eodwulf and Bren's father occupy an armchair each in the room, but before anyone can even say hello, Una Ermendrud sweeps in from the kitchen like a force of nature and makes a beeline for Astrid.

"Astrid! Welcome, Bren has told us so much about you." The beaming woman embraces herbefore leading her to the sofa and beckoning for her to sit. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!" Astrid complies, stuck between being polite, the informality of the very enthusiastic greeting, and noticing for the first time just how closely Bren resembles his mother. Her Auburn hair is caught up in a scarf but with enough visible to see the colour match is uncanny, and they share the same build and eye colour too. "Leofric, come and help me in the kitchen a moment, leave the youngsters to talk."

For all of Una's energy, Bren's father is reserved by comparison, steadily rising from his chair with a polite nod as he makes his way past, following his wife without complaint.

"Sorry about that." Bren sighs as he sits beside her. "She’s a little bit excited. I’ve never brought a girl home before."

"A _little bit_ excited? She’s been cleaning all day. We haven’t been allowed inside until half an hour ago." Wulf grins at her.

"He’s exaggerating, she hasn’t been that bad." Bren's attempt at reassurance sounds less than convincing.

"She seems lovely." Astrid smiles, clasping her hands in her lap to cover their trembling. "She’s very pretty too, I hadn’t noticed before..." Astrid trails off confusedly as Bren levels a glare at Wulf, who starts to snigger. "What?"

"Don’t." Bren hisses at him. "Don’t you dare."

Wulf holds his hands up innocently, though his grin is anything but. "See, I told you. I’m just saying, if she wasn’t your mother..."

Astrid tries and fails to hold back a laugh as she catches on. "Wulf, you’re terrible."

"He’s going to be sleeping in the barn if he’s not careful. I’ve warned you before, you’re not allowed to fancy my mother!"

"You should take it as a compliment." Wulf shrugs, still grinning.

Bren looks like he’s about to launch into a tirade of the sort of language his mother wouldn’t approve of when Una calls through to them, "Dinner's ready!" Bren levels one last warning glare at Wulf, who rises from his armchair looking completely unaffected by his friend's discomfort. Astrid is just glad to have something to distract her from her nerves.

"So Astrid," Una begins as she serves a generous ladleful of stew onto her plate, "how are you finding school?"

"It's been... a lot to take in. It’s hard work sometimes, but we’re learning so much. It’s been quite a year." She glances at Bren and Wulf with a smile, thinking back on some of their less academic escapades.

"I hope this pair haven’t been getting you into too much trouble." Una looks at the boys with a knowing smile.

"We’re model students Mrs Ermendrud." Wulf grins at her, taking a hunk of bread from the piled high platter before passing it to Bren.

"I’m sure..." She shakes her head amusedly, clearly unconvinced.

"How have you found your professors?" Asks Leofric, as Una finally finishes serving and sits to eat with the rest of them.

"They’re ok. Dedicated to their work." She rubs the backs of her hands subconsciously as she thinks about the time Starek caned them. "And we met Arch Mage Ickithon briefly, he seemed nice." She's careful not to give any hint as to the circumstances that led to them meeting him, not wanting to bring up the fact that they were so close to being expelled.

"An Arch Mage," Una says in awe, "You didn’t mention that Bren. I hope you manage to get more words out of him than I do Astrid, head buried in a book most of the time." She tuts at her son, but her eyes are full of pride.

"It seems to have paid off," Leofric adds, "you all did very well in your exams. We managed to get that much out of him at least. I’m sure your mother and father were very pleased too Astrid?"

She looks down at the table awkwardly, trying to cover it with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Una shoots him an exasperated look and she knows there’s no point in lying, her mother's disdain over her enrolment at the academy is clearly public knowledge. She feels Bren reach for her hand under the table and laces her fingers with his.

"As pleased as I’d expected. But I’ll change their minds one day."

"Well, I’m sure they have their reasons." Una says politely, but sounds unconvinced. "It's a great honour to be chosen for the Academy, but it’s daunting for us parents. To have you leave home so young. I know it isn’t far really, but Rexxentrum is so enormous... It feels as though it’s half a world away to me, but then I’ve only left Blumenthal a handful of times."

"I trained at the barracks there."Leofric sets his cutlery down having finished his plate. Astrid realises she’s barely touched her own food, nerves and chatter taking presidence over dinner. She makes a concerted effort to eat as he speaks. "They’re to the north of the city, just outside the Mudtop Ward, a bit different to your fancy Shimmer Ward. I went there once to catch a glimpse of Castle Ungebroch. Now that’s a sight to behold, a credit to the Empire. I expect you’ve seen it of course. Do you get outside much?"

"At the weekends, when the weather's good." Bren answers. "The castle isn’t so far from the Academy, you can see it from the windows on the top few floors of the library."

"The weekends?" Una says incredulously, chuckling in amusement. "You mean to tell me you actually leave your bed at some point during Yulisen and Da'leysen Bren?"

"Mutter..." Bren complains embarrassedly.

"Only because Astrid nags us to." Wulf grins.

"I don’t nag, I relentlessly encourage." She smiles back sweetly, resisting the urge to poke her tongue out at him.

"Good for you Astrid, I wish I could have the same success." Una laughs.

As the conversation and the meal progress, Astrid is struck by just how different Bren's parents are to her own. Una's warmth works wonders to put her at ease, and while Leofric's calm quiet is at odds with his wife's enthusiasm, they compliment each other perfectly. It’s a far cry from her own mother's domineering hold over her frustratingly passive father.

"Oh that’s the least of it," Una smiles wistfully as she recounts tales of Bren as an infant, "I once found him in the farmyard head to toe in mud and trying to stick chicken feathers to himself. He was adamant that if he found enough feathers he would be able to fly."

She and Wulf both burst out laughing, Bren looking decidedly red cheeked. "Mutter, please, I was three years old..."

"Oh, such a beautiful child you were mein kleiner junge." She continues affectionately. Bren groans and rests his forehead on the table. Astrid rests a hand on his knee in support, but can’t quite manage to stop sniggering. "Oh, I know, I know, but I’m your mother, it’s my job to embarrass you. One day perhaps you'll have children of your own to fluster and you’ll understand." There’s a distinct hopefulness in the older woman's eyes that makes Astrid ever so slightly nervous.

"Una, leave the poor boy alone. You’ll be planning their wedding feast and knitting baby clothes before the evening's over." Astrid feels her cheeks heat at the mention of weddings and babies. Bren gives a long suffering sigh beside her, Wulf sniggering across the table.

"Don’t be ridiculous Leofric." She tuts at her husband, beginning to gather the empty plates from the table. "That said though, you’re a lovely girl Astrid, if you two did want to get married we’d wholeheartedly approve..."

"Look at the time, I’ll walk you home Astrid." Bren interjects, leaping up from his chair. She follows his lead, offering rushed thanks for the meal and goodbyes as he takes her hand and quickly leads them out of the back door into the farmyard.

Night has well and truly begun to set in as they make their way down the dirt track from the farm house and out into the open fields towards her home. The sun has already dipped below the horizon, the clouds striped pink and gold to the west, the first stars beginning to peek through where the sky is a deep dark blue to the east.

"Sorry." He says sheepishly. "She can be a bit much."

"She’s wonderful. You’re parents are really nice." She smiles, feeling less flustered now it’s just them.

"I don’t think I ever really appreciated them till they took Wulf in. I just assumed all parents are like them. I mean, I could do without the baby stories and the marriage talk..." he grimaces, but even in the rapidly fading light she can see his amusement.

"At least she didn’t ask us how many children we want." She laughs. "It could have been a lot worse."

"I take it things haven’t been getting any better with your mother the past few days?"

She screws up her nose sourly. "When I told her I was going for dinner with your family, she looked so appalled I thought for a minute she was going to forbid it. She went off into a tirade about how you and your family aren't good enough, and that pursuing you is a waste of time. When my father pointed out that at least we're going about things respectfully, I thought she was going to throw her sewing box at him. But it seemed to get her thinking and she relented in the end. I thought I’d wait a few days before broaching the subject of you meeting them."

"How are you going to convince her?"

He raises an eyebrow as Astrid smiles wryly. "I’m going to play her at her own game." She clears her throat, putting on an imitation of a highborn accent. "Social convention is clear that an invitation to dine should be returned, lest one seem impolite." She laughs, dropping the accent as he grins and shakes his head. "If she cares so much about her reputation, she can’t possibly refuse you. She’s all about keeping up appearances after all."

He smirks. "How despicably manipulative. I’m proud of you."

"And as for us going about things respectfully..." she stops walking and pulls him in for a heated kiss, smiling as he chuckles against her lips. She tangles her fingers in his hair and loses herself in him for a while, in no hurry to get home. With his hands wandering under her blouse and his mouth on her neck, she finally comes to her senses as he begins to suckle at her throat more insistently.

"If you mark me," she giggles breathlessly, "she’ll never let you in the house."

"Best start wearing a scarf then." He mumbles against her skin. She moans as his teeth scrape along the line of her jaw and then he’s kissing her again. She reluctantly pulls back after a moment, catching sight of the darkening sky.

"A scarf in Brussendar? Because that’s not suspicious." She laughs, taking his hand and starting to walk again. "Believe me, I'd love to stand here and make out with you more, but I need to be back home before it gets too dark. And we’re in a field Bren." She smacks at her arm as she feels a mosquito bite her.

He sighs deeply, rolling his shoulders and shaking his head clear. "So the insects get to bite you but I don’t. That seems unfair."

"Perhaps I should cover myself in mud, I hear that keeps them at bay." She grins at him.

"Never going to live that down am I..."

"Nope."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brief mention of original Frumpkin *happy sigh*


	11. Risk and Reward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My updates are like buses, you wait ages and then two come along at once...
> 
> There’s no two ways about it, this chapter has definitely got a healthy dose of smut in it. Also snarky teens, of course. And me dodging like a literature ninja around the fact that at the point in time that this was written, we don’t know Astrid's surname...

_Knock knock knock..._

Astrid’s heart skips a beat as she heads towards the door. It’s been a week since she was the dinner guest at Bren's house, and a few days since she last saw him. Now, having successfully convinced her mother to have him over in return, it’s finally time. She takes a breath before opening the door, her mouth dropping open in surprise. Recovering from her initial shock, she stifles a laugh with her hand at the sight of Bren wearing his suit from the formal.

"I told you I was going to make a good impression." He whispers, grinning at her. The truth is, they both know no matter what he does her mother will never be pleased about their relationship. And far from making her dread the evening, Astrid finds that oddly liberating.

" _Let’s have a little fun with her." Bren had suggested as they'd lazed in the sun seared hay meadow with Wulf a few days before. "We'll pretend I'm the best son in law ever, while mocking her unrealistic expectations."_

_"Sounds good to me." She’d replied with a grin. "If you think you’re up to the challenge."_

_"If you need any tips, I’m really good with mothers." Wulf beamed, leaping to his feet in time to avoid Bren launching himself at him, Astrid doubling over with laughter as he chased the larger boy around the meadow..._

"Mother, father, Bren's here!" She calls sweetly, closing the door behind him and leading him into the sitting room. On the surface of it, the house looks grand and well maintained, gaudy ornaments displayed in any available space, a jumble of paintings, mirrors and crudely embroidered pieces hung on every spare inch of wall. But the reality is a far cry, the house itself only a little larger than the Ermendrud farmhouse, and with none of the comfort. Everything is just for show, and her parents are not as well off as her mother would have people believe.

The woman herself appears from the kitchen, looking down her nose as soon as she sees him, though she raises an eyebrow in surprise at his attire.

"Good evening Mrs..."

"Bren. How nice to see you." She interrupts dismissively. "Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes. Astrid, why don’t you show him through to the dining room to wait." She returns to the kitchen without waiting for an answer.

Rolling her eyes, she does as instructed. The "dining room" actually started life as a storeroom attached to the side of the house, plastered and painted, but never quite losing the subtle smell of damp. "Mother insisted on having a separate dining room. She thinks it’s uncouth to eat in the kitchen." The table and chairs barely fit in the cramped space, but that at least has the benefit of her having to sit close at Bren's side.

She’s just about to risk kissing him when her mother strides in carrying a tray of roasted partridge and vegetables. Her father, trailing behind with the wine, gives a nod and a quiet hello as he sits, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else.

Having carved the birds and served the food with a sour set to her mouth, they eat in silence for a few minutes before her mother begins the inquisition. "So, Bren, Astrid tells me you’re doing very well at the Academy?"

"He’s the top of our class Mutter." Astrid says, her tone just a little too sweet but her pride in him genuine.

"Is that so?" Her mother says dryly, stabbing a piece of turnip with her fork and looking almost disappointed by his success.

"We have very good teachers." He smiles with a self deprecating shrug. "Though I do feel as though I’ve found my calling."

"You won’t be taking over your father's farm then?" She asks bluntly. Even though she was expecting it, Astrid can’t help but feel a little bit mortified.

"I hope to pursue a more academic career path," Bren answers unfazed, "but perhaps that will allow me to gain some capital long term and we can expand. It’s good, fertile land after all, and there’s plenty of it in the valley yet to be cultivated."

"Indeed." She seems taken aback by the eloquent answer she obviously wasn’t expecting. Astrid, who’s grown accustomed to just how articulate Bren can be, hides a smug grin around a mouthful of peas. "Maybe you’ll be the first farmer in the Zemni Fields to be able to plough a field and read a book at the same time." She says with a cruel twist to her mouth.

"Maybe I will." He smiles politely back, though Astrid can see the challenge in it as he meets her mother's gaze without blinking. "But more likely I’ll live in Rexxentrum and leave the family farm in my father's capable hands. He’s not old after all." There’s an edge to his words that makes it perfectly clear to Astrid that he’s remarking on her parent's more advanced years, and from her mother's glare she catches it too.

"Yes, they were rather young when they had you, not far off your own age as I remember it, and barely wed. Do you plan to follow their example?" Astrid nearly chokes on a piece of carrot, coughing into her hand.

Bren takes it in his stride of course, chuckling amusedly. "I don’t think our professors would be best pleased if we turned up to class with a baby in tow, and with two years studying left it’s safe to say there's no rush." Her mother seems satisfied by that, giving a curt nod in response.

"Tell me Bren, is the library at the Academy as good as it’s made out to be? I’ve heard such impressive things, thousands and thousands of books piled high on shelves from floor to ceiling." Her bibliophile father takes his chance to get a word in during the lull in conversation. She purses her lips as Bren answers, the two men enthusing over what she’s sure is the one and only thing they have in common.

Of course, he could have asked her that same question at any point in the past few weeks she’s been home, but then he barely says two words to her at the best of times, and never about anything of substance. It’s always been made plain to her that both her parents wish she’d been born a boy, and that neither of them take her very seriously as a girl. In their eyes, she’s only ever had one use, and that’s to marry a man who can elevate their wealth and status. From the look her mother's levelling at Bren, she certainly still doesn’t think that man should be him.

The rest of the meal continues with a succession of her mother's thinly veiled insults and increasing disappointment when Bren remains as courteous as ever with his replies. When the meal is finally done, he says his goodbyes as though he’s had a wonderful time, and Astrid can't hold back her grin at the open irritation on her mother's face.

On her way to see him out, Astrid makes a snap decision. Her stomach twists, caught somewhere between nervous and excited.

"Thanks for coming, maybe I’ll see you later in the week." She says loud enough for her parents to hear through the open door of the sitting room.

"It was a really lovely evening, your parents are wonderful. Please thank them again on my behalf for their hospitality." He smirks, speaking far more loudly than necessary, still playing along. She opens the front door and he steps out into the warm night air. Safely away from prying eyes, she grabs a handful of his shirt and all but yanks him in for a heated kiss, which he returns enthusiastically. She pulls back after only a few seconds, already feeling out of breath.

"Right side of the house, second window along on the first floor. I’ll meet you there in a minute, use the trellis to climb up." She whispers in his ear. He looks at her bewildered for a moment, before a sly grin spreads across his face.

"See you again soon." He says for the benefit of her parents, making his way down the path in case one of them is watching him to make sure he leaves.

"Bye." She calls as she shuts the door behind him.

When she re-enters the sitting room, her mother is indeed watching from the window that looks out over the garden, nodding in satisfaction before turning and sitting in her favourite chair beside the fire.

"So, what did you think?" Astrid asks, as if her mother's opinion matters to her in any way.

"Polite, charming, respectful, as good as can be expected with his background. But there’s still something untrustworthy about him. As I’ve said before, you can do better." She finishes snootily.

"I thought he was a thoroughly nice young man." Her father interjects with a smile. The smile falters with one look at his wife's stern expression, and he dives back into the book spread across his lap.

"Well you would, he enjoys books. You’re entirely too trusting, no talent for reading people." She exhales irritably, picking up her glass of wine and taking a deep sip.

"I think I’m going to get an early night. Thank you for tonight, it was very good of you to agree to meet him mother. You’ve been very understanding." Astrid simpers, laying it on thick. For all her self-professed talent for reading people, the woman smiles indulgently, apparently believing her daughter's act.

"I’m nothing if not fair with my judgment Astrid, I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt. I’m quite charitable in my opinions. He deserved a fair hearing, and he had one. I can’t say I approve still, but that was only to be expected." She sniffs haughtily.

Astrid lets it go. After all, arguing won’t get her anywhere, but sneaking her boyfriend in and kissing him till they’re both breathless is not only a far more pleasurable way to spend the evening, it’s also the perfect way to disrespect the woman.

"Well, goodnight Mutter, goodnight Vater." She says innocently, heading up the stairs.

As soon as her bedroom door is closed behind her, she hurries to the window and quietly opens it, looking out for Bren. Back pressed flat against the wall below, he looks up at her, grinning from ear to ear as he easily scales the trellis and clambers through the window. She barely has it shut before he’s on her, hands cupping her face as he kisses her hungrily. She moans into his mouth and shoves his suit jacket off his shoulders.

He wrenches his lips from hers, hovering only an inch away from them still and eyes as beautifully dark as she’s ever seen them. "So that went well I thought." He smirks and even though he's whispering, she can hear the rasp in his voice.

"You were brilliant. I thought she was going to throw you out when you implied she was old." She chuckles quietly.

"I almost wish she had. She’s awful Astrid, I know she’s you’re mother but..." 

She cuts him off with another harsh kiss. "Say what you like, I hate the old witch. Though, I did have other things in mind than talking..." Moving barely an inch away from him, her eyes lock onto his daringly as she begins to unbutton her blouse. Pulling it off, she moves onto her skirt, unfastening it and letting it pool at her feet. Her stays are next, his breath quickening as he watches her unlace them, leaving her in nothing but her thin cotton shift and her underwear.

"Other things..?" He gulps as his eyes drag over her body, drinking it all in despite the material still obscuring his view. She nods and bites her lip self consciously under his gaze, suddenly all too aware that he’s never seen her in such a state of undress. When his eyes find hers again, he begins to unbutton his shirt and her breath falters. She watches as he shrugs it off, then unfastens his trousers.

"Is this Ok?" He asks, seeming unsure. She nods emphatically and he pulls them down, leaving just his under-shorts on.

Finding the courage to move first, she places her trembling hands on his chest and runs her fingers down to his stomach and back up again. He shivers and puts his own hands on her hips, pulling her in for a slow, deep kiss, their bodies pressing together tantalisingly. In time with theirtongues' slow slide, she undulates her hips against his automatically, his answering groan into her mouth making her shiver. His hands start to roam, first up and down her sides, then over her back, slipping lower till he’s cupping her rear. She finally breaks the kiss with a shuddering breath as his own hips pivot into hers, his hardness causing unexpectedly welcome friction between her legs despite the material still between them.

"About those _other things_ Astrid," he says breathlessly against her lips, flustered, "I'm not sure... I’m not ready for _that_ yet. I know I’m meant to be, I’m meant to want to throw you on the bed and... well that’s what the stories say anyway, but I’m not really... that’s not really me..." he says in a rush.

She chuckles, pressing their foreheads together. "I didn’t mean _that_ , not tonight. I’m not ready for _that_ either."

"Oh," he says, sounding relieved, "Not that I was implying you were... uh..."

She sighs amusedly. "You’re thinking too much. And coming from me that’s saying something."

"I am aren't I." She nods as he grins lopsidedly. His confidence restored, she backs him towards her bed, straddling his thighs as he sits and kissing him again, more urgently this time. He responds in kind, one hand sliding over her shift to cup her breast. He gropes clumsily at first, but then a thumb brushes her nipple accidentally, making her whimper.

He pulls his hand away looking alarmed until she chuckles at him, taking his hand in hers and pressing it back over her breast. "That was good." She whispers against his lips before shifting to kiss along his jaw. He repeats the motion, again, and again, gently exploring the bud, making her shudder as her hips roll against his rhythmically, instinct taking over. She shushes him with a giggle as he moans loud in her ear, becoming suddenly aware of his fingers brushing over her thigh, bunching her shift up as they go.

"Can I touch you?" He pants breathlessly, his hand stilling just inches from her underwear.

She nods without a seconds thought, pulling his face up to hers for a bruising kiss. Their tongues tangle as his fingers slip under the hem of her shift and breach her underwear.

He treats her like she’s a new spell he’s been tasked with learning, the fascination she sees in his eyes, when she can focus enough to notice, is intoxicating. She loves seeing him like this, hyper focussed and completely absorbed, but to have it be her he’s studying makes it all the more intense. He notes every shudder, every gasp, every tiny motion that makes her whimper, and although his movements are a little awkward and disjointed to begin with, it’s not long before she’s muffling her moans against his neck as her whole body trembles.

Her brain runs blissfully slow as she tries to catch her breath, and she’s only vaguely aware of his other hand moving between them when he groans low in his throat, his muscles tensing under her. She nuzzles his neck where it meets his jaw, pressing a kiss to his pulse point as he sucks in ragged breaths against her hair.

A little while later, laying curled against his side on her cramped bed, she smiles at the thought that she’ll never be able to watch his fingers cast a spell again without thinking of them inside her, and while she kind of wants to tell him that, he looks smug enough as it is.

"I wish you could stay here tonight. I miss being just down the hall from you." She whispers, tracing her fingertips lazily through the cooling beads of sweat on his chest.

"Maybe I can try one night. I don’t know though, I’m pretty sure our mothers would find out. They just seem to know about things like this." He looks nervously towards the door. Astrid smiles sleepily, unable to rouse much concern while she’s still feeling so sluggish. "And on that note, I should probably get going."

She pouts as he gets up and starts to dress. "So soon?"

He grins at her affectionately. "It's getting late, I don’t want to push my luck. Tonight's been perfect, I'd rather it didn’t end up with your mother chasing me down the lane with a carving knife."

She chuckles sleepily at that mental image. Shrugging into his jacket, he leans down to kiss her one last time before going to the window. "Tomorrow?" He asks quietly.

"I need to go into town in the morning. You could meet me in the square around noon?"

"Wulf might need some convincing, he’s been avoiding town incase he bumps into his father. But we'll be there. See you tomorrow." On his way through the window he knocks over a book which thumps to the floor, the noise startlingly loud in the otherwise quiet room.

"Astrid! Is that you?" Her mother's voice calls from the stairs, the sound of footsteps approaching. Bren and Astrid freeze, exchanging worried looks before moving in a flurry of activity, him climbing down the trellis as quickly as he can without falling, and her jumping out of bed to close the window behind him, picking up the offending book.

"Yes Mutter, sorry. I was reading and dropped my book." She calls back. The footsteps stop outside her door.

"Well be more careful next time, I thought we were being burgled." She hears her mother retreat back down the stairs muttering sullenly, and lets out a deep sigh of relief. Looking out of the window, she grins to herself as the moonlit silhouette of Bren sprints down the lane and out of view.


	12. Hurt and Comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couple of trigger warnings for this one, mentions of abuse and self harm.  
> Also some terrible German translations:  
> Gutaussehend - Good looking/handsome  
> Onkel - Uncle  
> Westen Straße - West Street  
> Krumm Glocke - Crooked Bell  
> Junge - boy  
> Beschissen - shitty/crappy  
> Verpiss dich - fuck off/piss off  
> Danke - thank you
> 
> Hope you’re all doing well and in good health despite these crazy times x

Once, Astrid would have considered Blumenthal's market square positively heaving on a day like today, a bustling throng of people buying, bartering and selling produce, encouraged out in greater numbers than usual by the fine Brussendar weather. Having now experienced the perpetually busy streets of Rexxentrum however, she’s more aware than ever just how small her home town is.

What really emphasises this though, as she makes her way along the south of the square past the small livestock auction and grocer's stalls, is the fact that she can put a name to most of the people she sees. And more perturbingly, even those she doesn’t recognise seem to know exactly who she is.

With the number of people determined to greet her or stop to chat about the Academy, it takes at least twice as long as normal to reach the square's central point, the pride of the town, a bronze statue of the first king of the Dwendalian Empire, King Manfreid Dwendal.

She spots Bren through the crowds first, perched on the statue's stone plinth looking amused. She soon finds what’s caught his attention when she finally makes it to the edge of the market stalls and sees Wulf surrounded by a group of five girls on the opposite side of the statue.

Astrid smirks as she heads over, having seen this scenario play out plenty of times before. The three of them might not be popular with the majority of their fellow Academy students, but that still never stopped Wulf from getting plenty of female attention at school. Astrid had learned pretty early on in their friendship that with the right physical attributes and a good dose of confidence, Wulf could charm even some of the most snobbish students, at least for a while. According to him, apparently some of them quite liked the novelty factor of his being what they described as "a bit of rough", though they’d never admit it to their peers of course.

In Blumenthal, however, what with them all but being hailed as local heroes for having been chosen for the Academy, the girls flock to him without hesitation, and they aren’t exactly covert about it either. He may not have worked a forge in almost a year, but his broad shoulders and still well defined chest make it easy to see why, not to mention his height, his striking blue eyes and his easy demeanour. He charms simply by being his flirtatious, blunt self, and Astrid has to admit, while it’s never worked for her it’s fascinating to watch.

Reaching the statue she notices Reta Hahn among the group of girls, paying little attention to Wulf as her friends flirt with him, but making eyes at Bren with a coquettish little smile that Astrid wants to slap off her face. Instead, she pulls him into a smouldering kiss as soon as she’s close enough, thoroughly aware that she’s peevishly marking her territory, and not feeling even a tiny bit ashamed about it. Bren doesn’t seem to mind either, if the smirk she can feel against her lips is anything to go by.

"Good afternoon to you too." He grins when they part, his attention fully diverted to her. Glancing over at Reta she finds her glaring sourly back, and can’t help but feel more than a little bit smug.

"Hello gutaussehend. I see the fan club is in session." She nods towards Wulf's groupies as she sits beside him on the plinth.

He gives a chuckle. "Ja. They spotted him as soon as we arrived, and pounced. Not that he seems to mind."

Astrid grins at their friend, charming smile firmly in place and confidence radiating from every pore as he talks to the captivated girls. But there’s something not quite right, and though she can’t put her finger on it, she can tell he’s not as comfortable as he outwardly seems. She remembers back to what Bren had said as he left the night before " _Wulf might need some convincing, he’s been avoiding town incase he bumps into his father..."_

"How’s he been though, really? Was he worried about coming here?" She asks as Bren nuzzles her cheek distractedly. He looks at her in confusion then seems to catch on, turning back to their friend with a frown.

"A bit. He seemed to be keeping his head down when we passed the tavern on the way here. And he has been a bit quiet I suppose..."

"Maybe we should just head back to yours? It’s a nightmare here anyway, everyone wants to talk to me today. Don’t get me wrong, it makes a nice change for people to like us, but if they could just tone it down a little that would be good. Oh, sheiße, it’s my uncle..." She mutters as a man well into his later years breaks away from the steady stream of shoppers and makes his way towards them with a jovial wave. "Guten tag Onkel." She waves back, putting on a smile.

By the time he moves on again back to his shopping, Wulf has finished his flirting and come to join them. Astrid rolls her shoulders and shakes herself in irritation. "So," Bren grins, "back to mine?"

She nods emphatically, Wulf grunting in agreement, a definite slump to his shoulders now he’s not playing the hunk any more. Astrid pats him on the back as they start to move back towards the bustling street. "Come on big guy, you did well enough coming here at all. I’m sorry for suggesting it."

"It's ok. I had to come into town at some point, I can’t hide away forever." He flashes her a weak smile, still looking about them uncomfortably.

They leave the square on the north side, deciding against taking the larger and more direct Westen Straße when they see how crowded it is and wanting to avoid being stopped by any more distant relatives and old family friends. By the time Astrid remembers this route will take them right past the Krumm Glocke tavern, it’s already too late.

"He might not be here." Astrid says reassuringly, as they try to pass by the dark beamed building quickly. "There are two other taverns in town, and he might not be in any of them at all right now."

"He always drinks at lunchtime. I just hope you’re right that he’s not drinking here today." Wulf mumbles, hunkered down as if trying to make himself as small as possible and every muscle tense. They're not even thirty feet past the tavern when they hear the heavy door slam open, ricocheting off the plaster with the force of it.

"Heard you were back Junge." The familiar, grizzled voice of Wulf's father slurs after them. Wulf turns to face him grimly, but says nothing. "Figured I’d see you myself sooner or later. What? You got nothing to say to your father?"

"Let’s just go Wulf." Bren says to him quietly, taking his arm to try and lead him away.

"You better than me now, are you? Now you’ve got your fancy school in your fancy city? Can’t lower yourself to talk to me now, eh?" The large man takes a lurching few steps towards them, staggering and only just managing to catch himself on one of the tavern's window frames.

Wulf looks at him with disgust. "You’re an embarrassment." He mutters, though there’s a stutter to his voice that betrays his nerves.

" _I’m_ an embarrassment!" The drunken blacksmith barks a humourless laugh, levelling a glare at his son. "You disrespected me, abandoned your family, your ancestral trade, and went to play wizards at some high and mighty school, and _I’m_ the embarrassment? You're pathetic Junge. You’ll mess it up soon enough and be back here with your begging bowl wanting scraps from my table. Before I send you away I’ll take my belt to you, remind you just how pathetic you are." He laughs drunkenly, patting the wide strip of brown leather at his waist.

Shrugging Bren's hand off his arm, Wulf turns and all but bolts down the lane, walking away as fast as he can. Behind him his father cackles, mocking him with every step. Astrid and Bren have to jog to catch up.

"Wulf..." She says as they round a corner onto another side street, small and unpaved, "Wulf, slow down. He’s gone, it's ok..."

"Ok!?" He yells, finally stopping as he rounds on her. "Nothing about this is ok!"

"That’s not what she meant..." Bren says calmly, stopping beside her.

"I know what she meant! You don’t understand... He’s not gone, he’s right here in this beschissen town, making me look over my shoulder constantly! But worse than that, he’s in here!" He jabs a finger hard against his temple. "So he's not _gone_ Astrid, he’s never gone!" His voice breaks at the end, leaving Astrid swallowing down her own tears at seeing him so distressed. She opens her mouth to speak but he waves a hand at her dismissively, turning to walk away again.

"Wulf, where are you going?" Bren asks, starting to follow him.

"Somewhere I can block him out!" He growls back over his shoulder, storming off down the street and out of sight around a bend. Bren turns back towards Astrid with a sigh, wrapping his arms around her comfortingly.

"Should we go after him?" She asks, looking forlornly in the direction Wulf went.

Bren shakes his head, pressing a kiss to her hair. "Better to let him get it out of his system. We should go to mine, he’ll come home when he’s ready."

Arm in arm, they head solemnly off up the hill and out of town towards the smallholding. "What will he do?"

"I don’t know, he doesn’t always tell me. Sometimes when he gets like this he finds something to break, sometimes he hurts himself, sometimes he goes to one of his girlfriends. Sometimes I think he just finds somewhere quiet to cry where no one will disturb him."

"Hurts himself?" Astrid looks up at him worriedly.

"Hits things till his knuckles bleed." Bren shrugs, though his nonchalance is clearly all for her benefit. He clears his throat, betraying his concern. "He’s been much better recently. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him this bad."

"Maybe he won’t do any of those things in that case." She says hopefully. "Maybe he just needs some time by himself."

"Ja, maybe." He sounds unconvinced.

Back at Bren's, they perch together on the farmyard wall looking out over the lane, keeping an eye out for Wulf's return. Afternoon becomes hazy early evening, the sun creeping over the sky to touch the tops of the trees lining the west side of the lane, and still no sign.

"Still not back?" Una comes out to ask, smiling sympathetically when they shake their heads glumly. "Try not to worry, I’m sure he won’t be long. Astrid, will you stay for dinner? It’s ready now if you’d like some, there’s plenty to spare."

Astrid opens and closes her mouth repeatedly, staring at Bren for help. "I... wouldn’t want to impose... Mrs Ermendrud..." she stutters as Bren just grins at her.

"It’s no imposition at all, we’re glad to have you." Astrid blushes awkwardly as it seems the matter is closed, Una making her way back towards the house before she can refuse.

There’s little conversation over dinner, a tense silence stretching for most of the meal. Astrid can’t help but keep glancing at the door, and notices Bren doing the same too. With a nervous sigh, Una begins clearing their near untouched plates, giving Bren a gentle pat on the shoulder on the way past.

"I should be heading back home, I hadn’t realised how late it’s got." Astrid says regretfully as she notices how much the light has faded outside. The trees running alongside the west of the farm block out much of the evening sun, and though the dim twilight here will be replaced by lighter golden hues out in the open fields towards her home, even if she leaves immediately she knows it will be close to full dark by the time she gets there. Her mother will have plenty to say about that, but Astrid couldn’t care less about the woman's ranting right now.

"I’ll walk you home." Bren says solemnly, rising from the table with her.

"No, don’t. It’s better that you’re here for when he comes back. I’ll be fine, it’s not that far."

He nods reluctantly. "I’ll walk you to the gate at least."

They part with a chaste kiss, a far cry from their endeavours the previous night, all but forgotten in the somber mood of the afternoon. Bren climbs up to sit on the wide, wooden farmyard gate as she makes her way down the lane to the footpath over the fields towards home.

As she reaches the junction of the footpath and takes a step up the earthen bank that lines the lane on either side, she chances one last glance along the dusty track. And pauses mid step, half falling back down to the road, using a tree trunk to steady herself as she notices a hazy shape moving a hundred or so yards away, hard to make out in the twilight.

She takes off running as the shape moves closer and becomes sharper, the unmistakable form of Eodwulf shambling slowly forward all but silhouetted in the dying light. "Wulf!" She shouts to him, striding as quickly as she can to reach him. "Bren, he’s back!"

She hears the clatter of the gate as Bren jumps off it and the dusty slap of his footfalls on the dry road behind her. She reaches Wulf first only by seconds, gasping as she sees that he’s injured. He's limping, clutching at his ribs with one hand, the other holding a blood soaked handkerchief up to a gash on the bridge of his swollen nose.

"What happened to you?" Bren asks, while Astrid can only stand and gape uselessly.

"Only what I deserved. Went to see Berda Backerin. Spent the afternoon blocking out you know who by doing you know what with her, lost track of time and her father came home and caught us. Ow!" He levels a glare at Bren as he ducks under Wulf's arm to help him walk, but shifts his weight, obviously glad of the extra support.

"Let’s get you home. You know what my mother is like, she’ll enjoy fussing over you..."

"No." Wulf grunts, cutting him off abruptly. "I don’t want them seeing me like this."

Bren glances at him worriedly as they start moving together up the lane towards the farm. Astrid follows behind, wishing there was something she could do to help. "They won’t judge you. You know they won’t."

"They should." Wulf sighs heavily, clutching at his ribs painfully. "It’ll be halfway round the town by tomorrow, the gossips will be beside themselves. You told me not to get your parents mixed up in all of it, like usual I've messed that up haven’t I..."

"They'll be far more worried that you’re hurt than they will be by some stupid rumours. Let’s just deal with this first and then worry about the repercussions tomorrow."

"I’m not that badly hurt, it looks worse than it is. We'll go to the barn so I can clean up." Bren frowns up at him unconvinced. "Please Bren..."

"Wulf, you can hardly walk." Astrid tuts nervously, moving to his other side to help as he stumbles over a pot hole. He lets her under his arm, but she doubts she’s doing any good with her much smaller size.

"Growing up like I did, I know what badly hurt looks and feels like." He hisses in pain, his eyes closing with a grimace for a second. "Nothing's broken, just badly bruised. I’ll be fine with a few days rest." Astrid tries to swallow the lump forming in her throat at how matter of fact he sounds, at the thought of her friend learning such a harsh lesson so young.

With slow progress they eventually make it to the gate, Astrid slipping out from under Eodwulf's arm to open it as quietly as possible and close it again when the boys are through, helping them again with the barn door when they make it to the shadowed building. Bren casts Dancing Lights to help them see, and Astrid nearly gasps again when the glow illuminates Wulf's injuries fully. With a deep whimper he settles painfully on a hay bale, adjusting to find a less sore position to support his side.

Bren places a hand on her shoulder and gives it a little squeeze. "Astrid, you need to get home."

"Not yet. Go and get some water from the pump please Bren. Let’s get you cleaned up Wulf."

"You don’t have to do that." He shakes his head stiffly, sounding exhausted. Ignoring him she looks at Bren and nods towards the door, relieved when he does as she asked without argument.

She kneels beside their friend, bunching up his shirt to inspect his ribs. Her mouth creases into a grimace at the series of rapidly purpling welts lining one side of his chest. "What did he do to you?" She asks, voice no louder than a whisper.

"Punched me to the floor, kicked me till I managed to get up and run." He shrugs as if it’s nothing.

"Well I’m not sure you have to worry about idle gossip." Astrid let’s his shirt fall back down, reaching up to take the red stained handkerchief from him and inspect his nose with a wince. "There’s Berda's reputation to protect, but his own too with this level of violence. He should be ashamed of himself."

"I deserved it." Wulf mumbles, eyes cast down at the floor.

"No, you didn’t. Wulf look at me." After a moment's hesitation he brings his eyes up to meet hers. There’s a tiredness there that has nothing to do with his long, painful hobble back to the farm. "You didn’t deserve to be hurt when you were a little boy, and you don’t deserve it now. You’re kind, and loyal, and so, so clever. If you don’t see any of that, if you don’t make use of it, your father wins. So whether you believe us or not, we’re going to keep telling you how great you are, and we’re going to keep encouraging you to prove him wrong. Because we love you Wulf, and if he doesn’t, that’s his loss."

He swallows hard and gives her a weak smile, and though she can tell he’s not ok still, his eyes are a little brighter, and his shoulders a little less tight. _That’s enough_ , she thinks to herself, _for now at least it’s enough._

The barn door creaks open quietly and shuts again as Bren returns with a pail of water. Taking her own handkerchief from one of her deep skirt pockets, Astrid wets it in the bucket and wrings it out, casting Prestidigitation to cool it before pulling Wulf's shirt up again and pressing it gently over the bruises. He let’s out a rasping breath at the shock of cold, before closing his eyes with a relieved rumble in his chest at the immediate respite it gives him from the pain. She guides one of his large hands to hold the cloth in place as she turns her attention to his own red stained handkerchief, rinsing it in the bucket to clean the dried blood from around his nose. By the time she finishes the water in the bucket is tinged red, making her feel suddenly queasy.

"Is now a good time to say I had no idea what I was doing?" She jokes, hoping it’ll ease her roiling stomach.

"Could have fooled me, you should have been a cleric." Bren smiles fondly when she wrinkles up her nose at the thought. "Speaking of which, if you don’t leave now you might need one when your mother gets hold of you." He winces and looks sheepishly at Wulf. "Sorry."

Wulf, gives a small grin and waves away the comment, standing stiffly with a pained groan. "Ja, no offence Astrid but, verpiss dich. The last thing I want is for you to get into trouble because of me." He limps the few steps to her and pulls her gingerly into a hug, avoiding his bruised side. "And danke."

Bren walks her out to the lane, eyeing the rough track towards her home dubiously. The twilight has faded into almost full dark by now, the last sliver of the sun only just visible above the hillside to the west and stars already showing in the sky to the east. "I should walk you home..."

"You will not Bren Ermendrud. I can take care of myself just fine, and besides, Wulf needs you more than I do." She hopes the confidence in her voice convinces him, because the thought of walking all that way in the dark alone is not a comfortable one.

He rolls his eyes and pulls her into a kiss that makes her forget her fear, for just a moment at least. She sighs when he pulls away. "I’ll come and see you when I can. No doubt mother probably will be mad about tonight, so I might have to leave it a few days... Look after Wulf, he’s feeling pretty down." She adds sadly.

He takes her hand and gives it a small squeeze. "I will. Be safe." Reluctantly, with one last quick kiss, she starts off down the path towards home, hoping her mother won’t be too cross when she gets there.


	13. Defiance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To mark fifty days since me and my family went into quarantine, a chapter...  
> Well ok, the timing is just a coincidence, but a chapter nonetheless. As always I hope this finds you all well and goes some way to helping with some much needed escapism. Enjoy, and prepare to sound the "irritating mother" alert!
> 
> Translations:  
> Hochsommer - High Summer/Mid Summer  
> Hurensohn - son of a whore

"Astrid!"

Closing her eyes exasperatedly with a muttered curse, Astrid turns back towards the house, plastering a smile on her face. "Yes mother?"

"Where are you creeping off to?" The woman asks suspiciously from the door step, arms folded across her chest and foot tapping irritably.

"Just into town." She smiles sweetly. "I need some burgundy thread to repair my Academy cloak." _Not technically a lie..._

"And you couldn’t get it when you went into town last week?" Her mother scowls at her, clearly unconvinced.

"I forgot." She flusters innocently.

For a moment, her mother breaks into a smile herself, and Astrid thinks she might actually have fooled her. The smile turns into a sneer however, and then a full blown glare. "Do you think I was born yesterday girl? Get back inside! As I told you last week when you turned up at a ridiculous hour of the night, you are not to see that boy again!"

"Mother please..."

"Inside!"

Astrid stalks back inside the house with a frustrated growl, taking the stairs two at a time and slamming her bedroom door shut behind her. Falling back against it, she sits heavily on the floor resting her head in her hands. A week. A whole week since she’d been late home and her mother still hadn’t got over it.

Bren had come to try and see her a few days ago. He hadn’t even made it to the front door before her mother had been outside yelling at him to leave, that he wasn’t welcome here and he wasn’t to go near her daughter ever again. For someone so worried about what the neighbours think, she wasn’t exactly discreet about it.

Bren had left without argument, but Astrid could see how tense he was as he walked away back down the path. He’d turned to look up at her window before he reached the lane, and though she wasn’t sure if he’d been able to see her, she’d pressed a hand to the glass in hope that he could. She’d broken down into great, heaving, pathetic sobs after that, watching him walk away looking so defeated had been awful.

She stays in her bedroom until supper, and then only comes downstairs begrudgingly, hunger getting the better of her in the end. The three of them eat most of the meal in silence, as is the norm for he family.

"Mother,"she sighs eventually, placing her knife and fork down with her food barely touched, "you can’t keep me locked inside all summer. When are you going to allow me to go out again?"

"That depends." Her mother replies briskly.

"...On?" Astrid urges.

"Whether you intend to see the Ermendrud boy again."

She opens her mouth to reply, intending to say _of course, he’s my boyfriend,_ but stopping herself just in time. "I have other friends." She says instead. It’s not exactly a lie, she had plenty of other friends before she went to the Academy. _They just, don’t matter all that much any more_ , she realises. Their lives always revolved around who they would marry, what their homes would be like, how many children they’d have, with no intention of ever leaving Blumenthal or wanting more from life. It’s hard to think that she’d have anything at all in common with them any more.

"That isn’t an answer to my question Astrid." The older woman sighs impatiently.

"You can’t ban me from seeing him." She crosses her arms defiantly. "I’m seventeen, I’m not a child any more."

"While you’re under my roof, I can do as I please. You won’t see him again this summer, and that’s final Astrid." There’s an arrogant certainty to her mother's voice that makes her blood boil.

"Am I banned from seeing Eodwulf too?"

Her mother frowns in consideration. "He has a trade at least, if he puts this Academy nonsense to bed and goes back to the forge. He’s a lout, but preferable to Bren as far as prospects go that’s for sure. With a little taming..."

Astrid growls in frustration. "Eodwulf is my friend, nothing more."

"Of course I’d hope for much better for you still, but a husband with a good trade is not to be sniffed at. Yes, you may see him still. He’s a decent contingency plan at least, should all other options come to nought." Astrid stares at her like she’s gone mad.

"Did you know," her father chimes in merrily, as though oblivious to the tension in the room, "some of the most successful and sought after blacksmiths in the Empire combine smithing with magic, particularly the ability to enchant. The Academy could be a good thing for him after all." She expects her mother to silence him with a glare as she usually would, but to her horror the woman appears to be seriously considering the idea.

"I am not going to marry Wulf! Not ever! I’m with Bren and that’s that."

"If I get even a sniff that you and Bren are still pursuing this ridiculous romance, you won’t be going back to the Academy at the end of the summer break." Her mother says coldly. Astrid's stomach drops.

"You wouldn’t..."

"I agreed to let you go because it opened up options to you socially. You can make connections there that you could never dream of making here. There, you can romance the sons of Lords and dignitaries. Here your best prospect is a womanising, miscreant blacksmith. It’s not difficult Astrid, why you can’t seem to understand that I’ll never know."

Astrid scoffs, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "When I came home you were livid at the idea that the Academy had allowed me to " _fraternise and fornicate_ ", that’s what you called it wasn’t it? Now it sounds like you’re encouraging it!"

"With the right man, perhaps." Astrid gapes as her mother explains calmly. "But you don’t win the favour of a lord by simply throwing yourself at him. If you give a man the honey for free he won’t buy the jar. You have to make him want the honey so badly that he’ll buy the jar, the bees and the whole hive just in hope of a taste. There are plenty of men at that Academy who have the potential to raise you to greatness, if you play it right."

"What about _my_ potential? I don’t need a husband at all if I do well at the Academy, I can make my own name."

"More likely you won’t though. Realistically you might become a teacher or an enchanter, or perhaps an engineer. I hear they’re always adding to those tower tops in Rexxentrum and you can’t do that without magic. But you won’t have a title, or a wage you couldn’t earn here just as easily. Taught magic is largely an upper class pursuit, a chance for them to show off their prowess, that’s why you have to pay for the Academy.”

“Then why give us scholarships? They obviously saw something in us that they thought was worth forfeiting the fees over.”

“Oh Astrid,” she replies with an infuriatingly patronising edge of sympathy, “the wealthy like to shower occasional charity on those less fortunate. It makes them feel better about themselves. That’s all this is, you mustn’t let it go to your head.”

She opens and closes her mouth a few times in disbelief, almost bothering to argue the point that if that were true they wouldn’t be at the top of their class, but from the look on her mother’s face, she’s long since made up her mind on the subject.

“Well mother, you’ve given me a lot to think about.” She says, schooling her face to look calm despite wanting to shake the woman. “I think I’ll go and see Wulf tomorrow, if I may?”

Her mother raises one sharp eyebrow, mouth set in a thin straight line. “Do I look as though I was born yesterday girl? You’re as see-through as a fresh washed window. You’ll have to work on that if you’re to have any chance at snaring a lord. Eodwulf is practically joined at the hip with the Ermendrud boy.”

“So how am I meant to see him if I’m under house arrest?”

“Your father can go and fetch him here tomorrow morning.” Her mother nods to herself as though it all makes perfect sense. Astrid drops her head to the table with a groan.

***************************

Astrid half expects her father to return alone when he sets off the next morning, trotting off to do her mother's bidding like a loyal little lap dog. But when he returns almost an hour later, Wulf is indeed with him. Hurrying down to meet them at the front door, she hesitates on her way through the living room, where her mother sits by the unlit fireplace darning socks.

"I was wondering mother," she begins sweetly, "if Eodwulf and I could walk into town together? It’s such a lovely morning, and I’ve been here for a week now without going so far as the front gate. It would be a shame to waste such fine wea..."

"No." Her mother cuts her off dismissively, not even looking up from her needlework. Astrid glares at her.

"But mother..."

"I said no." The older woman snaps. Astrid bites her cheek to stop herself from saying something that might end in her getting a slap. "You can go to the meadow and no further, I want you where I can see you. Even if I trusted you not sneak off together to meet Bren, Eodwulf is notorious. He'll have you pregnant and your reputation in tatters given half the chance, and I really don’t need that stress."

Astrid tuts. "Wulf hasn’t got anyone pregnant."

"Yet." Her mother mutters tersely. "You’ll go to the meadow and nowhere else."

_That's something at least,_ she consoles herself, heading for the door. Her father is just opening it as she gets there and, without a word, she catches Wulf's arm and turns him around, leading him back out down the front path and through the gate to the meadow beside the house.

"So," he begins with a grin as they stroll arm in arm through the knee high wildflowers, "your father tells me you want to marry me." She grimaces, but can’t help laughing. "I must say, I’m flattered, but I don’t think Bren will be very happy to hear we’re engaged."

"Oh shush you great lummox. They’re mad Wulf. Mad. They won’t let me go out, I haven’t left the house in a week, and now my mother's talking about me seducing a lord at school. She kept going on about honey, and bee hives..." she sighs tiredly, her amusement waning. "They won’t let me see Bren."

"We gathered that from the abuse he got when he tried to come and see you." He smiles down at her dryly. "Your father seems to think I should take up smithing again and learn to enchant. I bloody hate enchanting class."

"Apparently, you having a respectable trade makes you a valid plan for me to fall back on should I fail to snag an upper class husband at the Academy. Despite that, in her words, you’re a womanising lout."

He laughs. "She’s a cheeky bitch your mother."

"That’s an understatement. She’s an evil cretinous witch." Astrid cranes her neck to get a good look at his face, pleased to see the cut across his nose all but gone and only a faint bruise left behind. "You’re looking better."

"I had a good nurse." He shrugs.

"What did you tell Bren's parents?"

"The truth. I didn’t want them finding out from someone else, they’ve been good to me. They were disappointed, but more worried than anything. But never mind that, what are we going to do about you?"

"I haven’t a clue." She says wearily, flopping down to sit in a patch of dry grass. "But she says if she suspects that Bren and I are still together by the end of summer, she won’t let me go back to the Academy."

He raises his eyebrows in surprise, sitting beside her and letting out a deep breath. "Scheiße..."

They sit in silence for a while soaking up the warm morning sun, Astrid just enjoying not feeling alone for the first time in days. It was hard enough being across town from Bren and Wulf, now she feels more isolated than ever. After wanting so badly for the summer to come, now all she wants is to be back at school with just a corridor and an overzealous matron between them.

"Ok." Wulf says abruptly, making her jump. "So the way I see it, there are two ways of dealing with this."

"Which are..?"

"We pretend you’ve broken up with Bren and you’re dating me." They exchange sceptical looks, shaking their heads in unison. "Or, you take a leaf out of my book, and get creative."

"Creative?" She asks warily.

He cracks his knuckles with a lopsided grin. "Creative."

****************

About halfway down the trellis under her window in the pitch black with only moonlight to guide her, Astrid wonders if Wulf is really the most reliable person to seek advice from.

She breathes a heavy sigh of relief as her feet find the ground, pausing to listen for any sign that her parents have somehow heard her or anticipated her escape. Hearing nothing but the summer night wind rustling the meadow grass beside the house, she casts Mage Hand to quietly close the window, and makes a break for it.

She scales the waist high garden wall easily enough even in the dark, not wanting to risk the metallic squeak of the rusted hinges on the gate, and then she’s out into freedom, running through the meadow on a dusty track lit only by the murky light of the twin moons. She's equal parts euphoria and fear as her dash takes her through a narrow gap in a hedge twice her height to another field, freshly ploughed into deep furrows that slow her progress to a plodding walk between the long straight mounds of piled earth. Far to the west, silhouetted against Catha, the largest of the two moons, she can just make out the shape of one of the tall guard towers that ring Blumenthal's fertile farmland at regular intervals, keeping an ever present watch for bandits or dangerous beasts or would-be saboteurs. She’s never been quite sure whether she feels safer as a result of their presence or oppressed, and judging by the mutterings of many of the town's residents, she’s not the only one. Hoping she’s far enough away not to be noticed by the lookouts in the tower, she presses on determinedly.

She’s sweating as she nears a small copse of birch trees between two fields that marks the middle point of the journey to Bren's farm, though whether the perspiration beading on her forehead is down to nerves or her exertion in the warm night air she’s unsure.

Edging into the trees the moonlight wanes under the thin canopy, shrouding everything in ominous shadows, the thin silver trunks seeming to glow ethereally. Astrid shivers despite the day's leftover heat in the air. An owl hoots somewhere above her, fluttering out of the trees noisily as she gives a startled shriek.

" _Astrid_!" She hears whispered loudly from the other side of the small stand of trees.

Grinning, she makes her way carefully through the copse and finds Bren waiting for her. She laughs in delight and half leaps at him, throwing her arms around his neck as he closes his own around her waist and holds her tight. She tucks her nose into his neck and breathes him in, sighing in relief at seeing him again.

"Gods I’ve missed you." He murmurs against her lips as he bends his head down to kiss her. It’s as needy and heated and perfect as she’d anticipated, and backed up against a tree trunk with Bren's hands all over her and his tongue in her mouth, she decides Wulf gives pretty good advice after all.

When they both finally feel thoroughly reacquainted, hand in hand they break the cover of the trees at a steady run, eager to be in the safety of the farmhouse despite it being extremely unlikely there’ll be anyone out here at this time of night to spot them.

When they reach the farm, Bren helps her over the yard wall and they creep as quietly as possible over the hard packed dirt around the side of the house. A tall wooden ladder leans against the side of the building under his window. She gives a little gasp as he presses a kiss to her backside when she begins to climb, grinning up at her wolfishly. She stifles a giggle and continues her climb, taking Wulf's hand as he comes to help her through the small window when she reaches the top.

"Welcome to the bachelor pad." He whispers when she’s in, leaning through the window again to help Bren up behind her.

"It certainly smells like your dorm at school." She smirks, the odour of unwashed bodies and socks oddly comforting in its familiarity. _Strange the things you miss when they’re gone,_ she thinks to herself happily.

"Now, before I wake up to any awkward noises in the middle of the night, are you two sure you don’t want me to go and wait in the barn while you have some _alone time_ together?" Wulf asks, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Wulf..." Bren warns quietly. Astrid feels her cheeks heat, giving serious thought to taking him up on the offer.

Bren's bedroom is small, with space enough for his single bed against one wall, a single wardrobe and a rickety looking wooden chair on either side of the window. The floor space is almost entirely taken up by a makeshift pallet, which Wulf flops down onto with a yawn.

She and Bren carefully and quietly squeeze into his little bed just as they used to do on weekend mornings at the Academy, Astrid feeling a familiar comfort in the way they just seem to fit together. She squeaks as something lands on her legs all of a sudden, looking down to find Frumpkin turning around and around at the bottom of the bed between their feet, searching for a comfy spot to sleep. Bren rolls his eyes and tuts at the old cat, but she can’t help but smile at the obvious fondness she sees there.

Wulf's gentle snores start up quickly, but though it’s well past midnight and the run most of the way here tired her, Astrid finds sleep elusive. By the way Bren's smiling at her in the pale moonlight coming through the window, he can’t sleep either.

"I missed you so much." She sighs in a whisper. "What if this is the only way we can see each other till school starts again?"

"It’s only a few more weeks." He whispers back, kissing her forehead. "And Hochsommer is coming up soon, I’m sure we can manage to sneak off during the celebrations in town."

"Still. I hate her Bren." She growls under her breath. He chuckles soothingly, rubbing small circles on her back with his fingertips.

"I think I love you." He breathes against her neck, barely loud enough for her to hear. She takes a shaky breath and licks her lips nervously, sad to find she’s unable to get the words out to say it back. She kisses him instead, hoping he doesn’t notice. _I just need more time._.. Eventually she drops off into a deep sleep, more restful than any she’s had since the summer break began.

**************

Astrid wakes with a start to the harsh sound of a rooster crowing, the noise loud through the open window. It’s still dark out, but she can just see hints of the sky lightening towards the east. Bren stirs beside her, nuzzling into her hair and pressing kisses to her cheeks and nose. She giggles softly, aware of Wulf still snoring on the floor beside the bed.

"That hurensohn rooster always starts crowing so early. But in this case it might be for the best, my mother and father will be up soon." He whispers regretfully.

"It’s alright, I need to be back in my own bed by sun rise."

Still fully dressed from the night before they slip on their shoes and carefully step over Wulf, managing to negotiate both window and ladder silently. Bren insists on walking her back home, stowing the ladder in the barn before they go.

"Leave no evidence." He winks at her, making her shake her head ruefully.

Together, they creep back over the farmyard wall and down the track towards her home, heading west with the slowly rising sun warming their backs, it's orange glow stretching their shadows ahead of them.

"When can I see you next?" She asks as they reach the birch copse where he’d waited for her the night before.

"We’re supposed to be cutting and bailing the hay for the next three days, if the weather stays fair. After that though, same place same time? Unless it’s raining..."

She nods, entwining her fingers with his. "Same place, same time, unless it’s raining. It’s a date. And until then..." she reaches up to cup his cheek and pull him into a searing kiss, quickly finding herself backed up against a tree again as he presses himself against her eagerly. They only break apart begrudgingly when she catches sight of the sun now standing fully above the distant tree tops of the woods to the east, realising they’re pushing it for time.

With a final goodbye and a lingering look at his retreating back heading off over the fields in the opposite direction, she breaks the cover of the trees and heads towards home, snatching up a handful of vibrant poppies, cornflower and ox-eye daises as she goes, a dreamy smile on her face.

Her joy is short lived as she approaches the house however, when she catches sight of her mother peering grim faced out of the living room window. Astrid can make out the woman's sharp glare when she spots her, even as far away as the garden gate. Thinking on her feet, she puts on a smile and heads confidently for the front door, silently thanking the gods that in their small rural town, no one locks their doors even at night. It had been strange for her to discover that in the city, that was certainly not the case.

She opens the heavy oak door and smiles cheerily upon seeing her mother. "Good morning Mutter."

"Where have you been?" The older woman asks coldly, arms crossed under her bosom and foot tapping impatiently.

"For a walk in the meadow." She presents the small bunch of flowers as evidence, glad that she happened to collect them. "I assumed I was allowed out that far after yesterday?"

Her mother eyes her suspiciously, but her shoulders seem to relax minutely. "At this time? It's early for you to be awake, barely past daybreak."

"I couldn’t sleep, you gave me a lot to think about yesterday." She smiles pleasantly. _Thank the gods for an unforgiving mother and no siblings to blame mishaps on making me a good liar.._. "I'd best put these in a vase before they wilt." She says, edging past her into the kitchen as though the conversation is over, and to her relief, her mother doesn’t press the issue.

_Three days_ , she thinks to herself, _three days and I can see him again. Four weeks and we'll all be back in a rickety carriage travelling to the Academy, and she can’t reach me there_. The thought was aimed to cheer her, but laying the flowers on the counter top and staring glumly at the jolly red, white and blue blooms, Astrid comes to the conclusion that the next four weeks are going to seem like months to her if things carry on the way they are...


	14. A Dangerous Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a pretty long one, but hopefully that’s a good thing! In terms of warnings, there is a little bit of smut. And there is a whole sentence of dodgy Zemnian in this one, but the translation should hopefully be pretty clear from the context. As always, I hope this finds you all well and doing ok still despite everything going on in the world at the moment x

The three days between Astrid's last clandestine meeting with the boys and her next stretched, just as she'd thought they would. Bad enough that she couldn’t see them, but on top of that, she was confined the house still.

In an effort to rectify that at least, she set about being the best daughter that ever lived, helping with chores, being extraordinarily pleasant, and not once mentioning Bren or seeming in any way love-sick. And to her surprise, it seemed to be working.

"You’ve been cheerful," her mother remarks on the third day as they fold laundry together in the garden, "more so than I expected."

"Like I said the other morning, you gave me a lot to consider. Maybe I have been hasty." Astridshrugs, reaching for another sheet from the drying line as her mother tosses a newly folded one into the wicker basket.

"We learn by making mistakes." Her mother nods, and frankly, the reasonableness of it takes Astrid by surprise. _Maybe this game I'm playing will pay off after all... no harm in having a little fun with the old bag along the way..._

"Perhaps I have been selling myself short." She adds a well timed sigh for effect. "But I could really use some instruction mother. Like you were saying before, the rich use the Academy not only to learn the principles of magical traditions, but as a symbol of status. My humble upbringing stands out like a sore thumb. And I’m no great beauty." She adds at the end to see what her mother's reaction will be, not expecting much in the way of flattery.

"No, you aren't, and you will have to work harder because of it." Far from being insulted, Astrid smiles to herself, quickly hiding her amusement and schooling her face to a grim determination. She’s long since given up expecting any kind of praise from her mother, and besides, she really doesn’t believe she’s very pretty.

"What is it that I should do mother? You used an analogy the other day, about making the lords want my honey. How do I go about doing so?" She asks innocently.

"It depends on the man." Her mother replies, in a voice that makes her sound like an expert on the subject, despite her having ended up marrying Astrid's low earning civil servant father. "They often want different things, or think they do at least. But what they all require is slow and subtle convincing. And even better, convincing while you make them think it was all their own idea. All men like a pursuit. It gets their blood racing, and before they know it, they’re yours. They see you as prey, when you are in fact the predator."

It takes a great effort for Astrid to stop herself from laughing outright. _Predators and prey... The woman is ridiculous._ "Thank you mother, I shall take that onboard."

***************

That night, as she climbs down the trellis and sprints across the meadows and fields toward the birch copse to meet Bren, she thinks back to the conversation with her mother, chuckling to herself.

"What are you looking so happy about?" He smiles down at her after she flings herself into his arms and kisses him.

"Something my mother said." She answers, running her fingers over the front of his shirt to make him shiver. It has the desired effect, and she starts to wonder if there was something to her mother's words after all. He grunts disinterestedly in acknowledgement of what she said, but when he bends his head to kiss her again, she ducks away. "We should get back to yours, you must be tired after working hard in the fields the past three days."

"Not too tired to spend some time alone with you." He grins suggestively. Her stomach flutters, but she sticks with it.

"I don’t know, you look pretty tired. I wouldn’t want to wear you out when we have so far to walk." She says, sounding as concerned as she can manage while trying not to grin.

"Ja, you’re probably right." He sighs, nodding in agreement.

"Oh... really?" Astrid frowns in confusion. She'd been sure she had him where she wanted him.

A sudden smirk quirks his lips. "Nice try, but you forget who you’re playing games with, Schatz. I can read you like a book." Astrid is sure that shouldn’t make her feel the way it does, but warmth floods her from head to toe and it’s her turn to shiver. He moves to kiss her again, but it’s soft and slow, and when she tries to grab a fistful of his shirt to deepen it, he pulls away grinning. She rolls her eyes and pouts, which only makes his smile widen.

"It’s not becoming of you to play me at my own game." She sniffs haughtily.

"It’s not becoming of you to play games at all. Or necessary. You know I’ll give you anything you want, you just have to ask. What _did_ you want anyway?"

"You know my mother wants me to seduce some rich kid at school?" He nods in response. "I asked her how today, just as a joke. I suppose I wanted to see if there was anything in it."

"So you were trying to manipulate me." He crosses his arms sternly but the amusement is still plain on his face.

"Only a little. And you would have enjoyed the result." Astrid purses her lips and looks up at him innocently, noting his rough swallow and feeling a little bit victorious at least.

He looks down at her fondly, stroking a thumb across her cheek. "Astrid, it’s ok not to be very savvy with pulling people's strings. Some of us are just better at it than others."

"I’m savvy!" She says, offended. "I’m perfectly capable of manipulating you, or anyone else, I just need some practice is all!"

"I don’t know, I think possibly it’s just not what you’re good at, and that’s fine, really it is." He replies, his voice irritatingly sympathetic.

"I’ll show you! I’ll be the most manipulative and cunning woman who ever lived and then you’ll see..." she stops abruptly at his amused expression. "Bren!" She smacks his shoulder, pressing her forehead against his chest with a groan.

"I'm sorry Leibe, I couldn’t resist."

"Teach me oh wise one." She leans up to mutter against his throat before kissing a trail downwards, unfastening shirt buttons as she goes.

"You keep doing that you won’t need to manipulate me into doing whatever you want..." his breath catches and his eyes go wide as she reaches his stomach and starts to unfasten his trousers, settling on her knees in front of him without a care for the dirt.

Distantly, the thought occurs that she should feel embarrassed, or nervous, or scandalised even about doing this with him. Listening to her friend's giggling accounts of their own experiences back before she left for the Academy, she could never have imagined ever having to do it herself, let alone wanting to. But with Bren gasping and moaning above her, his fingers reflexively tangling in her hair trying to be gentle as he guides her mouth into the rhythm he needs, and his hips making minute desperate jerks, she finds herself feeling nothing but smug satisfaction.

When he sits down shakily against a tree trunk afterwards to catch his breath, she sits beside him and rests her head on his shoulder, grinning.

"Das... das war... erstaunlich. Und... ekelhaft. Geht es dir gut, Schatz?" He pants out, looking down at her concernedly.

Astrid bursts out laughing, raising a breathy chuckle from him in return. "Of course I'm fine. And it was a little... disgusting seems harsh... gross perhaps, at worst. But more than worth it if it was good enough to make you speak so much Zemnian in one go. Are _you_ ok?"

"So ok." He grins lopsidedly, kissing the top of her head. "I’m so used to Common now that we speak it so much more at the Academy, I could almost do with the practice in Zemnian. I’ll have to do that to you next time, let you have a chance to practice our native tongue. Pardon the pun."

She frowns, scrunching up her nose. "You can do that to a woman? Is that a thing?"

"Mhm." He nods. "So Wulf says anyway."

They stay like that for a while, enjoying spending time together with just them for once. Astrid watches the stars in the clear night sky, and tracks the twin moons as they trudge their slow paths across the pitch black expanse, silently speculating what their surfaces might look like up close. With her head against Bren's chest, his heart beating a comforting steady rhythm in her ear, she wonders what he’s thinking about. _Probably magical equations or somatics knowing him_ , she thinks to herself with a smile. Her thoughts stray to his whispered confession the other night, and how she couldn’t quite bring herself to say the words back to him then. Her stomach twists with guilt; she knew exactly how she felt at the time, as she has for a few months now if she’s honest with herself. _But there’s a difference between feeling a thing like that and being brave enough to say it out loud..._

"Wulf will be wondering where we are." He sighs, followed by a yawn. Taking a deep breath, he stretches out his back and rolls his shoulders, preparing to stand.

"I think I love you too." She blurts out, stopping him in his tracks.

He blushes, looking at his feet nervously. "I didn’t think you’d heard me say that the other night... You do?"

"I do. At least, I think I do. I’m as sure as I can be." She flusters. He smiles the warmest, most earnest smile she's ever seen and rubs his nose tenderly against hers.

****************

Astrid smiles, stretching languidly as she wakes to Bren's lips pressing feather light kisses to her cheeks, over the line of her jaw and down her throat. She’s just about to roll her hips against his sleepily when she remembers Wulf is only a few feet away. With a sigh, she forces her eyes open.

"Good morning." He whispers, pecking her on the lips. "Rooster crowed, time to get up."

She groans quietly, burying her face against his shoulder. "Nein, I’m going to just live here now. You can hide me in the attic, it’ll be fine."

"That might not look great when the crownsguard come looking for you. Your mother will take great delight in having me up before Starosta Olessia for kidnap."

"I would tell them all I was a willing victim. Very willing." He smirks at her, leaning in to kiss her. Their lips are mere millimetres from touching when a pillow smashes into the side of Bren's face, knocking him back with a surprised grunt.

"Shut up with your canoodling at this hour." Wulf mutters tiredly from the floor. "Get home before your mother catches you."

"She was awake when I went home the other morning." Astrid mumbles sourly.

"What?" Bren hisses, sitting up to look at her worriedly. "Why didn’t you say? Then we need to be quicker this time. What did she do?"

"I managed to convince her I'd been for a walk in the meadow because I couldn’t sleep. Luckily I’d picked some flowers on the way home or I don’t think she’d have believed me."

"Maybe... maybe we shouldn’t see each other again for a while." Bren suggests quietly. She opens her mouth to protest but he cuts her off by continuing. "I’d rather miss you for a few weeks than miss you for months when she stops you returning to the Academy."

"It won’t come to that." She replies indignantly.

He scoffs. "It might. Can we afford to risk it?"

"Plan A." Wulf says groggily as he sits up, rubbing a hand over his face. They both look over at him confusedly.

"Plan A?" Astrid asks, before it suddenly dawns on her what he means. "No. No, we can’t Wulf. It’s too weird."

"Weird is better than the alternative." He says tiredly.

Bren frowns, looking between them both. "Will one of you tell me what Plan A is?"

"Plan A is ridiculous and we’re not doing it!" She hisses, only just remembering to keep her voice down so as not to wake Bren's parents.

"Plan A is me and Astrid pretending to be seeing each other so her mother thinks she’s not with you any more." Wulf explains with a smirk. Astrid peers at Bren worriedly in the early dawn light to gauge his reaction. His expression is blank for a moment, before breaking into a wide grin. Well at least he’s not annoyed, she thinks relievedly.

"See, it’s stupid." She says to Wulf flippantly, folding her arms over her chest.

"It’s brilliant." Bren laughs. Wulf begins to chuckle to her other side and Astrid stares at them both in disbelief.

"No it isn’t! It’s... it’s..."

The bedroom door suddenly opens, revealing Una Ermendrud still in her rollers and night gown, with her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised, looking extremely unimpressed.

"Downstairs. Now." Is all she says before vacating the doorway, but her motherly authority has all three of them moving immediately, if reluctantly.

The three teens sit around the small kitchen table in silence as Una unhurriedly fills a kettle, lights the stove and puts the water on to boil, seeming to ignore their presence entirely. She busies herself with putting away last nights dishes as the water slowly heats, the kettle's eventual shrill whistle only adding to the tension in the room. As she pours out five cups of steaming tea, Leofric comes to sit with them, his expression grave as he methodically loads the chamber of his pipe with tobacco and lights it. Astrid notices Bren swallow thickly as he studiously examines his fingers steepled on the table, almost as if in prayer.

"So," Una says conversationally as she finally comes to join them at the table, "you’ve been sneaking around at night. I assume your parents are unaware of your adventures Astrid?"

"Yes, Frau Ermendrud." She says quietly, looking meekly down at the cup in front of her.

"And I take it that’s because they wouldn't approve of you sneaking into my son's bedroom late at night?"

"No, Frau Ermendrud. I’m sorry Frau Ermendrud."

Una nods once before turning her attention to Bren. "And I suppose she just turned up uninvited did she?"

"No, Frau... Mutter." He mumbles sombrely. Beside him, Wulf snorts a laugh at his slip up, Una's steely gaze settling abruptly on the larger boy.

"And you? What part did you play in this?" She asks him sternly. Wulf gulps audibly, his eyes widening.

"I... uh..." he fidgets in his seat and looks down at the table, cheeks flushing red. "It was my idea. Sorry Frau Ermendrud."

"I can’t say I’m surprised. Your ingenuity knows no bounds Eodwulf." She says dryly, but Astrid is sure there’s a hint of amusement in the woman's voice. "You’ve all been very disrespectful. Bren, you knew we wouldn’t approve and yet you did it anyway, sneaking a girl into your bedroom in the dead of night, risking her reputation and yours... What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Sorry Herr und Frau Ermendrud." They mutter in unison, heads bowed ashamedly.

"I’ve a mind to march all three of you over to Astrid's house immediately to apologise to her parents in person as well." They look up at her in horror, and her expression softens with a sigh. "And I would too, would it not be hypocritical of me." She looks to Leofric fondly, and he cracks a wry smile with his pipe between his teeth. _So that’s where Bren gets that grin of his from..._ she thinks, barely suppressing a small smile of her own. Bren's mouth twists distastefully at his mother's revelation, and she rolls her eyes at him. "You youngsters didn’t invent being in love, or sneaking into bedrooms at night you know. Your father and I weren’t always old. Not that I approve mind you. Needless to say, it stops immediately, and if I catch you again... well. You’re not too old yet for a spanking Bren Aldrich Ermendrud, let me tell you."

Bren sinks back into his chair, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "Yes, Mutter. It won’t happen again." She nods at him, seemingly satisfied.

"I’d better be getting home..." Astrid begins, getting to her feet awkwardly when there’s a loud pounding on the front door. Una frowns, striding through the living room and into the hall to investigate. Leofric motions for the rest of them to stay put as he follows.

The insistent knocking reverberates through the house again louder, before they hear the door open. "May we help you?" Una says smoothly.

"Where is she!" Astrid gasps at the sound of her mother's furious voice, stepping back against the wall away from the living room door so she can’t be seen.

"Who?" She hears Una answer, sounding perfectly perplexed.

"You know who. My Astrid. I know she’s here." Her mother snaps crossly. Astrid winces in embarrassment at the woman's behaviour.

"I’m afraid I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about." Una replies politely, without even a hint of hesitation.

"Oh of course, probably completely at a loss as to what your degenerate of a son has been up to! Bren Ermendrud! You bring out my daughter this minute!"

Bren scowls at the living room door before moving toward it, giving Astrid's hand a quick squeeze as he passes.

"I haven’t seen Astrid since you banned me from visiting her." He lies smoothly. She can practically hear his contempt for the woman.

There’s a moment of silence before her mother speaks again. "You’re a wretched delinquent if ever I saw one. Where is she then, if not here? Answer me that!"

"Are you calling my son a liar?" Una asks coldly, before Bren has a chance to answer.

"If the shoe fits..." Astrid's mother snarls back.

"If the boy says he hasn’t seen your daughter, he hasn’t seen her." Leofric says sternly. "Now kindly leave our property." The door bangs shut before the woman has a chance at a retort.

As Una, Leofric and Bren re-enter the kitchen, the red headed woman gently smacks her son upside the head with an accompanying tut. "When did you get so good at lying?"

"Apparently I learned from the best." He grins cheekily at her, smoothing his displaced hair.

"Thank you for not giving me up." Astrid says shakily. "I'm sorry about her. She's so embarrassing."

"Like I said, we can empathise." Una smiles reassuringly at her. "What will you do now?"

Astrid sighs out a shuddering laugh with no amusement behind it. "Go home I suppose, and try to convince her I really wasn’t here."

" _We’ll_ try to convince her." Wulf corrects. She winces at him. "Come on Astrid. What other choice do you have, especially now?"

"Wulf's right." Bren adds, coming over to take her hand. "You need an alibi, and he’s the best you’re going to get."

Wulf raises a slightly offended eyebrow at him, but turns his attention back to her without comment. "We can figure out what to say on the way there. Trust me Astrid, when have I ever let you down?"

She scrubs a hand over her face exasperatedly. "Fine. Alright. Anything's worth a try at this point."

Una shakes her head amusedly from the other side of the cramped kitchen where she has begun preparing breakfast. "You three. Honestly, I can’t keep up. You’ll be the death of me."

****************

"Gods I think I finally have it." Astrid massages her temples in a futile attempt to stave off a headache she can feel quickly building behind her eyes. "We're together, but we’re not too together, and I’m leading you on, yes?"

"Yes. Precisely." Wulf smiles happily beside her as they walk along the dusty lane towards her home, now looming on the slope ahead. Astrid had thought him mad when he first suggested they go the long way round through the town instead of her usual much faster route across the fields, but it made sense once he explained it. Eventually...

" _Step one," he grinned as the pair of them made their way down the sloping track leading from the farmhouse towards the town, "play down the drama. Make it look like it’s all been blown up out of proportion and it’ll catch on, things will calm down quicker."_

_Astrid stared up at him nonplussed. "I know you’re saying words, but all I hear is nonsense..."_

_Wulf sighed patiently. "She’s going to expect you to come from Bren's over the fields right? So don’t come across the fields. We turn up, bold as brass as though nothing's wrong, and suddenly you breaking out of house arrest is nothing more than a cheeky misdemeanour. When she asks where you’ve been, we'll say we went for a walk through town or something. She'll feel stupid for making a scene at Bren's, and probably won’t even admit she went there to find you."_

_"A cheeky misdemeanour? Have you met my mother?" She asked wryly._

_"Just trust me..."_

Wulf takes her hand as they approach the house, adjusting his stride to an easy stroll. "Remember, try and look happy, but sort of shy too. Like you can't quite bring yourself to look at me."

"So, like a simpering idiot." She replies dryly.

"Exactly. Just like you were with Bren before you two finally realised you both liked each other." She glares up at his amused smirk, growling under her breath. 

Sure enough, as soon as they reach the garden gate the curtains are thrown back into place and not ten seconds later the front door is thrown open.

Wulf chuckles, smoothing his perfectly tidy short cropped hair and casting his eyes down bashfully. "Play along and remember what we talked about. It’ll all be fine." He adds quietly, giving her hand a comforting squeeze. Astrid makes one more sigh before mirroring his body language, fiddling with her hair and smiling shyly.

"Where have you been?" Her mother shouts, striding up the path towards them. Astrid gulps, but gives a little jump of surprise as though she'd had no idea the woman had even seen them yet.

"Mother... I... I've just been walking with Wulf. I know I’m meant to stay home, and it was wrong of me to leave without your permission, but I just..." she glances at him with a small smile for effect, "...really wanted to see him again."

"And how exactly did you arrange this meeting?" The woman asks harshly, drawing to a halt in front of them and crossing her arms impatiently. You’ve been gone since first light at least. You could have been out all night for all I know!"

"It was my fault." Wulf hastily steps in as Astrid falters, her mouth opening and closing uselessly as she scrambles for their preplanned answer to the anticipated question, forgotten in the heat of the moment. "I couldn’t sleep, I've been thinking about Astrid so much these past few days, I just couldn’t bear it any longer so I sneaked out to see her before dawn. I threw pieces of gravel at her window till she opened it, and asked her to come and walk with me so we could talk. She didn’t want to at first, she was reluctant to disobey you, but I pleaded with her till she eventually took pity of me. I’m sorry to have caused you distress." He smiles one of his most winning smiles, one of those that brings out his dimples and seems to melt hearts. Astrid's seen the effect that smile has on people plenty of times, both at school and in Blumenthal. She almost snorts a laugh, but just manages to hold it in.

" _So what’s step two then?" Astrid asked in genuine interest as they approached the town square, still all but deserted at this hour. Wulf flashed her a grin._

_"Do a better job of making her like me than Bren did." He answered dryly. "But also make sure she thinks it was all my idea. You’re just a poor, innocent, flower swept up in my charm and my impulsiveness. Until you’re not. But we’ll get to that bit..."_

To Astrid's surprise, and horror, her mother's penetrating stare seems to waver for a moment at his charming smile, the hint of a blush forming on the older woman's cheeks. Her glare quickly returns, though it’s markedly less furious. "I see. Well that’s... that's all very well. But Astrid has been told she isn’t to go off without my permission."

"I’m sorry mother, it won’t happen again." Astrid does her best to look thoroughly ashamed.

"No it will not. Now... off with you, Eodwulf. You’ve caused enough trouble as it is." She waves a hand to dismiss him, but the admonishment in her voice is half hearted at best.

He pretends to kiss Astrid's cheek while instead quickly whispering in her ear, "I’ll come and see you tomorrow to see how the rest went. Good luck." He meekly apologises again before heading off making a show of looking glum, hands deep in his pockets.

"I didn’t think you liked him all that much." Her mother mutters suspiciously as she turns to make her way back towards the house. Astrid chances a quick glance at Wulf while her mother isn’t looking, rolling her eyes at the wide grin and encouraging thumbs up he gives her.

"Neither did I, but like I said before, you gave me a lot to think about. He’s really not so bad. Maybe I could even learn to love him one day, if I have to. Hopefully it won’t come to that though." She shrugs nonchalantly, following a few steps behind. Her mother raises an eyebrow at her and pauses on the path.

"What do you mean?"

"Well after considering things from your perspective, I realised you were right. I mean, I do like Bren, but I think maybe I really could do better. I owe it to you to try at least. When I go back to the Academy I’ll do my best to make a play for someone with a title, or at least with money. But in the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to hedge my bets with my next best option, set the groundwork with him, just in case. And if I’m to stand any chance of success attracting a worthy suitor at school, I need to practice on someone. Who better than Wulf?"

" _You’re loving this aren’t you." She said, punching Wulf lightly in one of his large biceps. His answering grin was confirmation enough. "Alright, we’re almost there. Step three?"_

_"Your mother's a scheming, cold bitch right?"_

_She nodded without hesitation. "Harsh, but accurate..."_

_"What better way to fill her with motherly pride than you being just like her. Tell her it’s all an act and you’re just using me to practice on before going for the rich kids back at school. She won’t mind because it's a means to the end she wants, she’ll think you took on board what she said, and Bren will be out of the picture."_

_Astrid shook her head in disbelief. "You brilliant bastard."_

_"I know." He smirked. "And if I’m right, hopefully she’ll relax her rules and allow you out to see me. Then you and Bren can meet up in secret and she need never find out."_

Astrid's mother considers her carefully for a moment, one fingertip tapping the thin line of her lips. She tries not to fidget under the woman's steely gaze, wondering if she’s seen straight through the plan after all.

The woman's lips eventually curve into a sly smile and she resumes her progress up the path, Astrid following nervously. "Perhaps you’re not as naive as I thought girl. You certainly do need the practice still, but with a scheme like that, maybe there’s hope for you yet." A pace behind her, Astrid's shoulders slump with relief, and she quietly lets out a breath she hadn't realised she’d been holding.

"So I can see him again?" She asks hopefully.

"Certainly. He can come here as often as you like."

" _What if she says you can only see me at mine?"_

_Wulf paused, thinking for a moment. "Tell her we’re seeing each other behind Bren's back and I'm worried he’ll find out and kick me out of his parent's house."_

Astrid takes a deep breath. "I’m... not sure that’s possible." She says, pausing at the front door. Her mother turns to look at her with a frown.

"Oh?"

"I think he’d prefer if we could meet somewhere else. Definitely not here since Bren could turn up looking for me again. I mean, I don’t mind, Bren has to find out about us sooner or later. But better it’s not now, with weeks of the summer break still left. If he found out now, Wulf might be kicked out of the Ermendrud's house and have nowhere to stay. And you know what his father is like."

"That might do him some good." Her mother scratches her chin thoughtfully. "After all, for him to be a suitable choice for you at all he needs to go back to his trade..."

"He is! Thinking about it, I mean..." Astrid blurts out quickly, thinking on her feet. "I made sure to mention to him how lucrative smithing can be when paired with some ability at enchanting. He seemed pretty keen. Though, given the situation with his father, he said he’d prefer to take up an apprenticeship in Rexxentrum and set up shop there eventually. Much more demand for enchanted items in such a large city after all, compared to here."

Her mother nods. "True, true. I suppose that makes sense. Given that then..." Astrid holds her breath again in anticipation, "...you may meet him away from here. Only him mind! If I get even the slightest hint you’ve been anywhere near Bren, you’ll wish you’d never set eyes on either of them."

"Thank you mother." She grins, trying not to look too relieved. As soon as they’re in the house, Astrid starts up the stairs towards her bedroom.

"Astrid..." her mother's voice stops her halfway up. "Just you remember what I said about him. It’s all well and good you being allowed out to see him, but Wulf has quite the reputation in this town for leading girls astray. He’s too handsome for his own good and he knows exactly how to use it. You wouldn’t be the first girl to find herself lost to a good pair of shoulders and a nice smile."

She feels her hackles rise and swallows down the desire to defend him. _As if you weren’t mooning over his "nice smile" not ten minutes ago you hypocrite..._ "I know." She smiles pleasantly instead. "But Mother, it’s like you said, about the honey. I need to practice making those rich suitors at school want me without giving in to them. I've no intention of letting Wulf get his own way in that department, I promise you."

Her mother seems satisfied with that answer, nodding curtly before heading off towards the living room. Astrid climbs the rest of the way up the stairs and flops down heavily onto her bed. Grinning, she looks out of the window towards the east where Bren's house lies just a few miles away, and thinks that maybe, finally, things might be looking up.


	15. Change and Growth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi to anyone still reading, if you’ve made it this far, well done and thank you! Hope this finds you all safe and healthy, some crazy stuff going on in the world at the moment, almost makes the Academy look inviting! There’s some interesting (well I find it interesting, because nerd and proud...) additions in this chapter courtesy of the beautiful, stupendous, mesmerising, Explorers Guide to Wildemount, which I will mention again in the end notes. Dodgy translations this chapter are as follows;  
> Verlobte - Fiancée  
> Verpiss dich - Piss off  
> Scheißkerl - Bastard  
> Wichser - Wanker  
> Heavy on the swearing again... oops... German really is a lovely language to learn, and I abuse it terribly. Sorry Germany.

"So, how did it go?" Wulf asks eagerly as they make their way into the meadow beside Astrid's house the next day.

She sits down and lays back in the knee high grass, stretching out under the sun's rays with a grin. "She bought it."

"All of it? Even being able to meet away from here?"

"Mhm." She nods smugly, her smile fading into more of a grimace after a moment. "Though she nearly had me at one point. When I said you were worried you’d get thrown out of the Ermendrud's, her eyes all but lit up. She seemed to think it would mean you had to go back to smithing with your father."

He shivers, and she’s not entirely sure it’s all for dramatic effect. "How did you convince her?"

"Made up some scheiße about you deciding to combine it with enchanting after all, and wanting to take up an apprenticeship in Rexxentrum. I pointed out it would be more lucrative there, and she was sold."

"Aww, mapping out my fake future for me, you'll make a wonderful wife. Should I propose now or later?" He smirks wickedly, laying propped up on one elbow beside her.

"Later of course." She sighs dramatically." You’re alright, but I’ve got to at least try to bag myself a lord before I lower myself to being the wife of a blacksmith." She squeals, erupting into giggles as he tickles her.

"Cheeky runt." He laughs, flopping down onto his back. "And after I come bearing gifts as well..."

"Gifts?" She asks interestedly, sitting up.

"Go ask your mother to let you off the leash for a while and you might find out." He answers cryptically.

She runs back to the house, finding her mother in the sitting room embroidering what she’s sure is meant to be daisies across the bust of an old dress, but they look more like wonky clouds to her. "Mutter, could Wulf and I go for a walk?"

"A walk where?" She asks, glancing at Astrid suspiciously.

"Just into town." She lies as innocently as possible. Her mother continues her embroidery in silence for a moment while she considers, and Astrid resists the temptation to shift from foot to foot impatiently.

"Be back in an hour." The woman eventually answers, the warning in her tone clear.

"Yes Mutter. Thank you Mutter." She calls back, already halfway to the door.

When she returns to the meadow, she finds Wulf dozing in the heat of the midday sun. He starts awake with a muttered curse when she nudges his chest with her boot, grinning down at him. "We only have an hour, let’s go."

"Alright, alright." He slowly gets to his feet with a yawn, brushing the dust and dry grass from the back of his shirt and trousers. "Come on then _Verlobte_." he grins at her and she snorts a laugh, linking arms with him to keep up the charade. As expected, she catches a glimpse of her mother at the front window, watching them as they stroll leisurely past the house on their way down the lane towards the town centre.

As soon as they round a corner, out of sight of the house, they move apart and pick up their pace. "An hour?" Wulf says incredulously. "That’s all? Plenty of time to have sex, not enough time to do anything fun without nudity. She has an odd idea about time your mother."

"If that’s the present you've got for me you can keep it." She says jokingly. "Save it for Mura." She can’t help but notice his cheeks redden just a touch at the mention of the name. "You really like her don’t you?"

He grunts. "I like her breasts."

"Don’t deflect. Do you miss her?" She asks as they reach the crossroad halfway down the hillside. Wulf leads her around the hedge-lined corner onto a smaller road curving west away from the town. She wonders absently where he’s taking her, knowing this old track only leads to a few outlying farms before hitting a dead end.

"A bit..." He mumbles sullenly after a long pause, kicking a stone along the roadside. "Quite a lot."

She beams up at him. "They do say absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"Well, absence can verpiss dich." He mutters as he kicks another stone, raising a little cloud of dust in its wake. "I don’t want to miss her. I want to enjoy the odd kiss and cuddle, the occasional fuck, with her or one of the others, and I don’t want any stupid feelings ruining it. I think I’m going to stop seeing her when we go back to school."

"You’re going to stop seeing her _because_ you like her?" She frowns up at him incredulously. "That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard."

" _You’re_ dumb." He retorts halfheartedly.

She bumps her hip against his affectionately. "Why don’t you give it a try with her instead? Ditch the others, and just try being with one girl. You might find you like it." Her only answer is another disparaging grunt, so she gives up with an exasperated sigh.

After a few minutes walking in silence, he leads her through a thin gap in the hedge running along one side of the lane, to a rough footpath across an unfenced fallow field, zig-zagging north-west back up the hillside. "Follow this path till you reach a stand of trees, Bren's waiting for you there."

With a huge grin, she rises on her tip toes to kiss his cheek before sprinting off up the path, conscious of how little time she has.

When she reaches the small thicket of hazel and sweet chestnut coppice a few minutes up the track, breathing heavily from the run, Bren all but grabs her as soon as she moves into the deep shaded trees. He peppers kisses over her neck and jaw while she gets her breath back, not that his onslaught helps her to regain control of her breathing much. Finally, her mouth finds his in a demanding kiss. He growls when she nips his bottom lip, backing her almost roughly up against a tree trunk to grind his hips against hers.

Astrid gasps as his mouth descends to her collarbone, wishing they had longer. Reluctantly, she finds enough resolve to murmur in his ear sadly, "My mother only gave me an hour." Going still all of a sudden, Bren lets his forehead fall to her shoulder with a frustrated groan.

"It’s never long enough. All I want is to have you to myself for a few hours. No sneaking around, no parents, no matron, no stupid rules or time limits..." he rants, chest heaving. She looks at him, so worked up and disheartened, and feels almost guilty that she can’t stay longer.

"You’re ready aren’t you? For us to..." She asks him, cheeks flushing at the unfinished question and voice barely above a whisper. _Stupid woman,_ she admonishes herself silently, _if you can’t even say it like some bashful little girl, how will you ever know you’re ready..._

He drops his eyes, seeming ashamed. "I... yes. But not until you are. And not... not like this. Not rushed..." he sighs embarrassedly. "I’ll wait however long you need Astrid. Even if it’s years. The last thing I want is for you to feel pressured. For you to regret it after."

Her breath catches in her throat, his impassioned reassurances so genuine and heartfelt that they make her mind up for her, even if she couldn’t quite bring herself to say the words upfront... "I'm not going to regret it. I’m ready too." She says smoothing a thumb over his cheek till he lifts his eyes to hers. "But you’re right that we can’t yet. We need that tea Matron forced on me before, and there’s only two apothecaries in Blumenthal. My uncle owns one and the other, well... You know what Frau Müller is like, she couldn’t keep a secret if her life depended on it, and she’s a member of my mother's knitting circle. It’s too risky. Even if mother thought it was Wulf I was planning on... doing that with... she’d still skin me alive. But without any precautions... we just can’t. I’m sure one day I’d love to have your babies, but definitely not yet."

He nods in agreement, grimacing. "So we can’t until we get back to Rexxentrum, and there’s nowhere private there anyway." He laughs darkly. "Looks like it’ll be years after all..."

"We’ll find a way. Wulf manages it enough." She chuckles, nuzzling his neck. "And at least I can see you now. Even if it’s just an hour today, the more she trusts me, the more I’ll be allowed out, and the more I can see you the next few weeks. And after that, you’ll only be a corridor away again."

His expression brightens considerably and he sighs happily, kissing her temple. "Back to lazy weekend mornings together, breaking out at night, and studying till we can barely stay awake."

"I think you might be romanticising it a bit." She grins. "But I can’t wait either. Even when it’s bad, it's so good I never want to leave. Blumenthal doesn’t feel like home anymore, the Academy does."

"It does doesn’t it." He says thoughtfully, bending to press a chaste kiss to her lips. "We’d best start making our way back, your hour will be up soon and I promised my mother I’d pick her up some apples in town on my way back."

"We can’t go into town Bren, we can’t be seen together in public." She sighs heavily, pulling him back down for a far less chaste kiss.

"About that..." he mumbles against her lips, whispering something she can’t quite hear. When she pulls back to catch her breath, she squeals at the sudden sight of Wulf grinning down at her and thumps him in the chest in shock, her hand passing a good inch or so further through the air between them than it should before hitting his real form. Bren grunts, laughing at least with his own voice still.

"Bren! Warn me before you do that!" She giggles, halfheartedly pushing him away as he leans in to kiss her neck. "It’s so _weird_... I don’t think this is what the Academy had in mind when they taught us Disguise Self." she runs her hands over his illusory heavyset shoulders, watching with cringing fascination as they run through the image.

"Better than impersonating teachers while sneaking out of school at night like the last time... At least I can walk you home now without your mother knowing. As long as I don’t speak to her, she’ll never know the difference."

"It’s great it’s just..." she shivers, goosebumps forming on her arms in spite of the summer heat. "I guess at least you know for sure now that I don’t fancy Wulf." She wrinkles her nose as she inspects him, poking at his chest unsurely.

"Oh yes," he says dryly, rolling his eyes, "because I wasn’t sure until just now, and it has been driving me mad with jealousy the idea of you two pretending to be together... But seriously, he said even your mother went weak at the knees when he smiled at her yesterday. _Your_ mother! I’m glad you’re immune but you seem to be the only woman who is. And my mother, obviously." He grimaces with a little shiver. With the amount Una let’s Wulf get away with, Astrid isn’t so sure of that, not that she’s about to traumatise Bren with the thought...

"Oh hush. Let’s go, otherwise we won’t have time to go into town." She makes a reluctant little squeak as he kisses her, and has to close her eyes to keep from jerking away from him. He smirks as he takes her hand, clearly revelling in her discomfort.

When they reach the town square, Bren takes his time picking over the apples at three open-fronted grocers before finally settling on what he deems to be suitable produce. "My mother might have been happy to help us out yesterday, but she’s certainly not forgiven me yet. She's making me do every chore possible." He explains, grumbling under his breath. "If I don’t go back home with the most perfect apples she ever seen, I dread to think what she’ll have me doing tomorrow."

As he attempts to haggle the price down with the trader, Astrid hovers to one side staring disinterestedly out at the square. She catches sight of one of the town criers marching along like a puffed up peacock towards a mounting block, or a platform as they prefer it called, as though they’re performing a play to the King himself and not just reading out boring news no one even listens to.

"Pretentious little Scheißkerl." Bren whispers in her ear, making her jump. She smiles at him questioningly. "Just getting into character. Or maybe Wulf would call him a stuck up wichser." He grins one of Wulf's dastardly grins and she rolls her eyes.

"Well, before you have to get into character too much, we should make a move. The centre of town probably isn't the safest place for you at the moment. Just imagine if any of Wulf's dumb fanclub spot you, they’ll be all over you like a rash..."

Bren cringes, looking around worriedly. "Good point, let's go."

They hurry around the square, keeping to the edges as much as possible, Bren holding his brown paper parcel of apples almost like a shield, as if to fend off any girls around their age that might appear.

The town crier is in full flow as they reach the street they need, leading out of the open square to the West. "Praise to the brave and ever-watchful men of his Majesty's Crownsguard manning the town's guard towers, for thwarting another raid on our lands last night and for keeping us all safe in our beds yet again!" He pauses, seeming to expect some display of cheering or clapping. Not likely, since Astrid knows opinion among the townsfolk is at best mixed on whether the towers should be there at all. A ring of towers encircling the barely populated farmland around the town's border, which makes her and most people she's ever heard make comment on them feel scrutinised rather than safer. Even her father who works for the town administration thinks they’re oppressive, and the so called "raids" are never as substantial as they’re made out to be by the Starosta, barely more than a few bandits on the roads now and then chancing their luck.

As she expected, no one in the square even looks up from their business to acknowledge the town crier's news. He clears his throat, looking disgruntled, and carries on with his announcements regardless. "News from Rexxentrum! I regretfully announce the passing of Jorma Margolin, esteemed and highly respected headmaster of the Soltryce Academy..."

Bren and Astrid stop dead at the apex of the corner, earning a gruff "Watch it!" from a man who almost walks into them. They look at each other wide eyed, turning to listen to the rest of the announcement, the only two townspeople to be paying any attention at all to the crier as he continues.

"...The Cerberus Assembly most humbly mourns his loss, and appoints his son Zivan Margolin to succeed him in the post with immediate effect."

"We have a new headmaster then." Astrid frowns, as they start to move on their way again.

"I doubt it’ll change anything." Bren says reassuringly. "It's his son after all. We hardly ever saw the old headmaster, if we hadn’t heard the proclamation we probably wouldn’t even have realised."

"It doesn’t seem a place where change happens often. I'm sure it’ll be fine." She shrugs, outwardly uncaring, while inside she feels less convinced. _Unless this new headmaster doesn’t like scholarship students..._

Bren seems to read her mind though, as he often does, grinning his familiar grin but unsettling on Wulf's face. "And if it isn’t fine, and they decide to kick us out, at least you get to marry Wulf and be a good blacksmith's wife. How many children will you have? Seven? Eight?"

She snorts and smacks his arm playfully, her hand travelling through a good inch of illusory muscle before making contact with his real arm. "Keep that up and I will too, just to spite you." She laughs.

When they make it up the hill to her house, Bren makes a point of trying to kiss her despite the disguise, sending her into a fit of giggles as she ducks away from him. "Not looking like that you don’t!"

"But just think, we get to kiss and your mother could stand three paces away and not even know it’s really me." he makes a grab for her again which she easily avoids. "Just close your eyes, Astrid please..."

"Even if it wasn’t gross, I’m supposed to be acting coy with him, practicing my womanly wiles for the lords at the Academy. She only just trusts him as it is, the moment she suspects I’m letting him get his way she’ll lock me in my room for the rest of the summer before you can blink."

"Fine, fine." His answering smile is so full of mischief she could almost believe the real Wulf had swapped places with him without her noticing, if it weren’t for the voice. "I’ll see you tomorrow, if your mother will allow it."

"Come over in the morning. I’ll try to convince her to let me out again in the meantime." One quick glance shows her mother predictably watching from the window. "To which end..." Astrid moves close enough to kiss him, just brushing noses with him. The heat in his eyes would be enough to make her knees weak if they were Bren's eyes peering down at her, but unaffected by Wulf as she is, she turns easily to kiss his cheek just as he’s about to close the gap between their lips. She hears him make a frustrated little growl as she quickly escapes through the gate, turning to smirk at him. "See you tomorrow."

Her mother gives her an approving nod and a sly smile when she gets inside. "Very good." She says, watching him leave down the lane, completely unaware of the Disguise Self spell. "You’ll have him eating out of the palm of your hand in no time."

"Can I see him again tomorrow?" She asks, pressing her advantage while it’s there. "We were thinking of taking a walk east along the ridge and then back down to follow the river into town. I know it’s a bit far in this heat," she adds innocently, "but it’s a pretty route and I haven’t walked that way in a while."

Her mother stares out of the window for what feels like an eternity before finally answering. "You seem to be handling him well enough, I think I can allow that."

Astrid celebrates silently, keeping her face as calm as she can. "Thank you Mutter."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the two additions from the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount were the guard towers (including the residents' apparent feelings on them), and the change of headmaster. According to the Guide it happened around this time, so I thought I’d add it in.


	16. Not Normal, Brilliant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while, but it was one of those I planned and just couldn’t work out how to start! Got there in the end though, and hopefully it was worth the wait. Feels, fun, and a small tribute to Liam's Narrative Telephone episode. In the words of one Caleb Widogast: Holla!
> 
> Some probably terrible German translations:  
> Kleine schwester - little sister  
> Großer Bruder - big brother  
> Waldhexe - forest witch  
> Schlagen - slap  
> Gehen - go  
> Schnell - quickly

Shouting a hasty goodbye to her mother, Astrid darts out of the front door at the very first sight of Wulf ambling down the lane towards the house, not waiting for a reply. Not wanting to risk the woman changing her mind at the last minute and refusing to allow her to go. Astrid wouldn’t put it past her.

Pausing at the gate, she realises she has absolutely no idea whether this is Bren in disguise or the real Wulf. Frowning at him consideringly, he picks up on her confusion and grins, sauntering on down the road past her without stopping.

"You’re really not going to tell me?" She asks as she catches up to him, putting her hands on her hips and studying him. He shakes his head, grin deepening. "Fine, that’s easily solved, let’s see if there’s an illusion to be disturbed..." She darts a hand out to poke him in the ribs, tutting amusedly and chasing after him when he dodges it, easily evading her attempts to prod him and keeping just as annoyingly silent.

Giving up with a frustrated huff she moves to block his path, standing in front of him with her arms crossed and realising too late that she's pouting. Finally, his deep laugh at the sight of her petulance gives him away.

"Wulf! What if I’d tried to kiss you!" This time when she approaches to smack him lightly in the chest he doesn’t dart away, instead grabbing her under the arms and hoisting her over his shoulder before she even has time to yelp.

"From what I hear, you find me so repulsive that was unlikely to be a problem." He says dryly, beginning to walk again as though her weight is nothing. Which, she realises, with his build it probably isn’t.

"Where's Bren, I thought the whole point of using Disguise Self was that he could pick me up and walk me home?" Wriggling free of his arm slung loosely over her hips she drops to her feet to walk alongside him, smoothing out her wrinkled skirt and blouse.

"He said he wanted to walk you home instead and was saving his spells to study while he waits for us. I hope your mother gave you longer than an hour today?"

She looks up at him with a frown. "I can probably get away with four hours perhaps. I wasn’t specific when I asked, but the route I told her we were walking will only take about that long. Waits for us where?"

"You’ll see." Is the only answer he gives, accompanied by an infuriating smirk. She growls under her breath, which only seems to add to his amusement.

Heading down to the valley floor they eventually meet the main road running through the town and head west towards the mill. Crossing the small stone bridge there they briefly duck off the road and up into the sparse trees lining the river running parallel, to avoid Wulf's family forge. She grips his hand as they pass, far enough into the dappled shade that they know they won’t be seen, butWulf still flinches at the ringing clang of hammer on metal that sounds from the open fronted workshop. They’re a long way past and back down onto the road by the time she sees that his broad shoulders have relaxed fully again.

As the road begins to slant upward toward the valley's entrance, Wulf leads her off into the trees again, and finally she realises their destination. They cross the thin stretch of land between road and river through a thick stand of pine, clambering over smooth weather-worn boulders which become more numerous the closer they get to the water's edge.

"You know if anyone finds us here, we’ll be in really big trouble." She says as she sits on a large flat topped rock to remove her shoes and stockings. Wulf grins one of his characteristic mischievous grins, sitting beside her to remove his own footwear.

"If you’re scared, you can always run off back home to your Mutter, kleine schwester."

She looks up at him in surprise, glad that he’s too intent on cursing under his breath at his uncooperative shoe laces to notice her surprise, or the fondness she knows is plain on her face as she smiles at him. She supposes he really is like a brother, but hearing him call her little sister makes her realise just how much she loves him. Just as much as she loves Bren in truth, though not in the same way.

"I’m no coward, großer Bruder." She smiles. He lifts his head and beams at her.

With their feet bare, they paddle out into the gently flowing ankle deep water. Astrid bunches up her skirt to her knees, the excess material tucked into the crook of her elbow to keep it dry. The river is wide here, a good thirty feet across, but hemmed in by thick trees and undergrowth on one side and the steep valley side on the other, it feels like another world compared to the open, gently sloping meadows and fields of the rest of Blumenthal. The banks narrow considerably just a few hundred meters behind them downstream, the effects of the bottleneck and the slight downward slope of the valley floor running eastward driving the water into a much stronger flow by the time it reaches the mill. Here, just to the north of the comparatively gentle gradient the road follows up the hill, lies the true beginning of the enormous valley the town is situated in.

Walking against the meagre current, Astrid stares up at the reason so few of Blumenthal's residents ever dare to make this trip. A looming, jagged rock face rising forty metres straight up ahead of them, the stone blotted with mustard yellow lichen and scored by deep ruts populated every now and then by ivy and hardy shrubs, their woody roots clinging anywhere they can find purchase. It butts up against the heavily wooded slope where the road skirts it to their left, not visible from here behind the trees, and the steeper valley side to their right, boulders littering the rough grassland where they’ve broken away and rolled downhill over the centuries.

The seemingly solid wall of rock is daunting enough, but Astrid knows where they’re headed and despite Wulf's apparent confidence beside her, her stomach is knotted with nerves. At the foot of the rock face, the mouth of a cave comes into view, dark and wide as the river, but too low even for her to walk through without stooping.

It’s one of the very few places in Blumenthal that mothers insist their children avoid, the message drummed into them almost from birth with nightmare inducing stories of volatile spirits, enormous child-eating spiders and the Waldhexe. Even in her late teens Astrid knows few who have attempted the journey through the cave, even fewer who actually made it to the other side without losing their courage and turning back, and none who would ever even think of admitting to their parents that they’d tried.

"Have you been in there before?" She asks, trying to keep the anxiety from her voice. He gives her a look, his wry grin giving all the answer she needs. "Of course you have. Probably had a girl in there knowing you..." she grumbles, just loud enough for him to hear over the sound of the water rushing around their ankles.

He snorts a laugh. "For once, no. I’ve only been through once before today, and honestly, I was terrified. You and Bren are the only people I’d ever admit that to." She adjusts her skirts over her arm as they approach the pitch black cavern, peering into the darkness unsurely. "I promise you it’s worth it on the other side, but you really don’t have to go in if you don’t want to. I’ll shout Bren to come back through and we’ll just stay here instead."

"I said I’m not a coward." She replies, wishing she sounded like she meant it.

"It’s not cowardly to be frightened of a cramped dark cave with a ton of local ghost stories attached to it." She narrows her eyes at him. _Why did he have to mention the ghost stories..._ "It’s normal to be scared."

"Then why aren’t you scared?" She asks in a small voice, swallowing hard as she turns back to stare at the darkness.

"Because we’re not normal. We’re brilliant." He smiles at her encouragingly as he moves past into the gloom, holding out a hand. He has to duck down almost into a crouch to clear the rough stone roof. With one last look back over her shoulder at the river, she takes his hand with a deep sigh, hoping she doesn’t regret this. "Bren!" Wulf's shout echoes eerily as they begin to move into the dark. Within seconds, four round globules of yellowish light appear in a chain moving towards them rapidly.

"You could have told me there’d be light!" She chastises, smacking him in the shoulder, relief flooding through her as the inside of the cave is illuminated by Bren's Dancing Lights cantrip.

Wulf grins at her over his shoulder. "But now you get the satisfaction of knowing you overcame your fear. You’re a mouse with the courage of a lion Astrid, if you ever need reminding, just think of this cave."

She rolls her eyes, knowing she’s pouting again and not caring. "Enough digs about my height. I’m not short, you’re just very tall." As if to emphasise her point, he promptly bumps his head on a low point in the roof, muttering a curse. She winces in sympathy but is promptly distracted by a large cobweb brushing over her face, giving an embarrassing shriek and flapping her free hand to snatch it out of her hair.

The cavern remains as wide inside as the entrance, a good thirty feet across, the water swirling gently around their feet as the floor undulates leaving slightly deeper pools in places where the smooth rock of the cave floor has worn down over time. The chain of lights moving with them shows small rises in places too, piles of smaller rocks and larger single boulders that they have to navigate around, leaving deeply shadowed cracks and scars in the roof where they fell away. It’s another reminder of how stupid this is, the fact that the whole place looks as though it could come crashing down around them at any moment, but Astrid takes a deep breath to soothe her rising sense of claustrophobia, albeit gripping Wulf's hand just a little tighter.

It feels like hours have passed by the time they make it through the cave, though she knows it’s only been a few minutes in reality, the bright daylight making her squint despite the glowing orbs that accompanied them inside. Blinking as she steps out and straightens, she's forced to agree with Wulf, it really was worth it.

Yellow-grey rock rises all around them in a huge bowl-shaped, sheer sided canyon a good sixty feet wide, the stone broken up here and there by great falls of ivy and winding honeysuckle, a layer of vibrant green moss coating the rock for ten feet above the waterline all the way around. The shallow pebbled floor falls away sharply only a few metres out from the cave mouth, leaving a wide round pool of dark cerulean water she can only guess the depth of. And directly opposite the cave, spilling from a large dark recess halfway up the high canyon wall, a waterfall plummets into the pool below, churning the water directly underneath to white froth, a faint mist of spray drifting all the way to where she stands.

"I’d heard it was beautiful, but I thought it was just exaggeration." She breathes as Bren rises from his seat on a boulder beside the cave and steps up beside her, putting an around her shoulders and kissing her cheek.

"I thought you’d like it, Schatz." He beams down at her, rubbing his nose against hers. Just as she’s about to lean up to kiss him, cold water rains down on them both in a violent splash, making them jerk apart. A few seconds later, Wulf bobs up from where he jumped into the pool, grinning from ear to ear.

"Stop being gross and get in." He smirks, swimming a few strokes before diving back under the surface. Astrid is relieved to see that at least he's still wearing his underwear, as he kicks up his feet in another spray of droplets and disappears from view.

Keeping their own undergarments firmly on, they leave their clothes on the same flat topped boulder beside the cave mouth as Wulf did, before jumping into the water together in twin splashes. It’s so cold it takes Astrid's breath away, but after the unrelenting heat of midsummer, once she gets used to it she has to admit it’s refreshing.

By the time the three of them haul out of the water again onto a thin shelf beside the waterfall, the sun has climbed to almost its full height in the sky, signalling that it’s close to midday. She leans back against the canyon wall, the sun warmed moss pleasant against her back after the water's chill.

"I could stay here forever." She sighs, shutting her eyes.

"I bet it’s really creepy at night." Bren says. "Who knows, maybe some of the stories our parents told us about this place are real. They had to come from somewhere."

"Yes, perhaps at night the spirits wail inside the cave to lure lost souls into the darkness, or maybe the Waldhexe really does eat the hearts and brains and eyes of children who wander into the trees outside..." She can hear the grin in Wulf's voice without needing to open her eyes. "It’s all just made up to keep curious kids out. Does this place really seem dangerous to you?"

"I mean, it is kind of hazardous when you think about it." Astrid opens her eyes to peer up at the canyon walls high above their heads. "Just the cave on the way in is dangerous enough, dark, cramped, plenty to trip over or crack your head on," Wulf rubs his forehead surreptitiously, "and the currents could easily sweep your feet out from under you if it was raining heavily enough to make this place flood. Then there’s the deep water out here, possible rockfalls..."

"Urgh! Stop being so sensible! You sound just like your mother." Wulf tuts disgustedly, glancing at her momentarily before quickly looking away. Astrid huffs at him, but he ignores her, seemingly intent on studying the cave entrance across from them.

"I am nothing like my mother. You’re just reckless, anyone else would be able to see the potential dangers of this place easily, wouldn’t they Bren... Bren?" She frowns as he seems to visibly shake himself, his eyes snapping up to hers.

He clears his throat roughly before speaking. "I didn’t... uh... what were you saying?" On the other side of her, Wulf snorts a laugh, still looking away.

"What has gotten into you two?" She asks bemusedly.

Bren swallows hard before answering, his cheeks flushing almost red enough to match his hair. "Your, um... your shift..."

She narrows her eyes in confusion before looking down, letting out a shocked squeak when she finds that the thin white cotton has become decidedly translucent in its wet state. Hugging her arms around herself, she feels her own cheeks heat. "I should go and get dressed." Practically throwing herself back into the water to swim back to the other side, she hears the twin splashes of the boys following a few seconds later.

They overtake her on either side in a flurry of spray and churned up water, their laughter between breaths ending up more splutters and coughs by the time they reach the opposite edge of the pool, Wulf the clear winner.

"Why do you have to be so good at everything? And you’re stupidly good looking too, it’s just not fair." Bren laughs, panting as he scrambles out of the water.

Wulf grins, shrugging into his shirt. "You beat me where it counts, at school. You can’t have everything."

"You’re not exactly stupid." Bren tuts, sitting down to pull on his trousers.

"Danke..." Wulf chuckles dryly. "You should put that on my headstone when I die, "Eodwulf: He was good at everything, very good looking, and not exactly stupid."" The pair of them break into laughter, nearly falling over as they tug the last of their clothes on.

Astrid finally catches up at a much more sedate pace, leaning her chin on her hands on the poolside, the rest of her well hidden under the water. "Can you two wrap up the male bonding session and turn around so I can get out please." Her voice comes out tighter than she meant it to through chattering teeth, even just a quick rest in the sun making the water feel freezing again.

"You sound like your mother again." Wulf smirks at her.

She glares at him, and at Bren when he only just manages to bite back a chuckle. "Since you seem obsessed with my mother, maybe you should come over for dinner at mine to meet her properly, like Bren did. Maybe I’ll suggest it to her tonight..."

His face pales considerably. "Fine, fine, point taken. I’ll be in the cave." Stooping under the low entrance, he escapes into the dark almost at a run. She raises an eyebrow as Bren remains seated on the rock. He snorts and rolls his eyes, giving her one last longing look before following Wulf into the cave.

"And don't you dare peek!" She calls after him, "I’ll know if you do, you’ll be as red as a ripe tomato Bren Ermendrud, you’re hopeless for blushing..." Climbing up out of the water with little care for grace, she rubs her chilly arms, grateful that the sun is directly overhead. Taking off her shift to wring it out, at least removing some of the water before putting it back on, she hears faint, echoed slapping noises and laughter from the cave. "Boys..." She chuckles quietly to herself.

After doing up the last few buttons of her blouse, she gathers her shoes and stockings in one hand, holds up the long hem of her skirt with the other, and heads into the gloom. She finds the two of them illuminated by Bren's Dancing Lights, sitting on a pile of rock brought down in a cave in long ago, or so she hopes, each with their hands held clasped together in front of them, playing a game of Schlagen. As she approaches, Wulf fakes a left before darting back to slap the knuckles of Bren's right hand, setting off a new round of expletives and laughter.

"Astrid, you’ll play the winner, ja?" Wulf grins without taking his eyes off of Bren's hands, waiting to evade as he takes his turn.

Whispering the words under her breath, she quietly casts prestidigitation, a gentle puff of air in Wulf's ear enough to distract him as Bren lands two blows in quick succession. She sniggers as the larger boy glares indignantly at her. "Oh look, Bren wins. Bren shall we play?"

"I yield." He smirks at her.

"Looks like I win." Astrid smiles victoriously.

Wulf shakes his head and sighs amusedly. "Devious."

"Intelligent is what I think you mean." Beaming, she starts off in the direction of the cave's exit, a string of Bren's Dancing Light's popping up to light her way as he follows close behind.

"Intelligent and wet..." Wulf laughs just before there’s an almighty splash, and a shower of cold water rains down on her and Bren. They turn back to face him with twin shocked gasps and barely time to flinch before Wulf kicks up a second volley of water at them.

"You understand the principle of two against one don’t y..." Bren cuts off prematurely with a splutter as another splash hits him square in the face. Astrid giggles, wasting no time kicking up her own spray of water to attempt to drench their friend in return.

Deep in the midst of their water fight, with spray flying in all directions and a cacophony of splashing and laughter echoing off the rough stone cavern around them, Astrid barely notices when Bren suddenly goes still beside her.

"Stop, shush!" He urges, laying a hand on her shoulder. Still chuckling, she stares at him in confusion. Wulf kicks one last spray at them before noticing they’ve stopped, still laughing breathlessly in the gloom.

"What’s wrong?" Astrid asks as he frowns, his eyes seeming unfocused as though he’s listening intently for something.

"I thought I heard... I don’t know."

"You've been listening to too many old ghost stories about this place my friend." Wulf grins, wading over to them. "There’s nothing here but..."

A scuttling noise somewhere off to the left of them cuts their remaining mirth abruptly. For a few seconds they stand stock still staring at one another in shock, each not quite believing their own ears. The sound of rocks shifting in the same direction finally jolts them into motion.

"Gehen!" Wulf shouts as they set of running. With the boys more severely hindered by having to crouch under the low cave roof, Astrid moves ahead, chancing a look back over her shoulder and wishing she hadn’t. On the very edge of the Dancing Light's range, she can just make out the long, sinuous legs of an enormous spider easily the size of a small cow gaining ground on them.

"Schnell, it’s catching up!" She pants, just managing to dodge a small pile of rocks that almost trips her. The light of the cave entrance comes into view ahead, relief battling with fear that they still might not make it. She hears a curse and a splash behind her, turning in time to see Bren land heavily on his knees in the shallow water, the spider coming into full view as it darts forward, seeing its chance.

Time suddenly seems to move at a crawl. Before Bren even has a chance to begin scrambling to his feet, Astrid casts Catapult, hurling a loose rock the size of her fist toward the spider. It shies away from the projectile, dodging the blow by mere inches, the rock clattering loudly into the roof a few feet beyond and sending a heavy shower of stones collapsing into the water below.

Only seconds after her own spell is loosed, there's a roaring whoosh made loud by the compact space as three spiraling Magic Missiles race from Wulf's outstretched hands towards the spider, hitting it square in the mandibles. The creature stops it’s pursuit, letting out a deafening screech as a shower of stones rains down on top of it. Wulf lurches for Bren, already halfway to his feet by now, and grabbing hold of his arm hoists him the rest of the way up, the three of them setting off running again not pausing to see if the spider follows.

Bursting out into the blinding sunlight, Astrid keeps on sprinting for a good thirty feet beyond the cave when she hears shouting behind her, skidding to a halt in a shower of water and pebbles.

She turns in time to see Bren grab Wulf's wrists, the faint glow of spell energy already accumulating in the larger boy's outstretched palms. "Wulf! You’ll bring the whole cave down!"

"Ja, that’s the idea!" The spell energy fades even as he fixes Bren with a slightly panicked stare. "Did you see the size of that thing? You know me Bren, I’ll face down angry fathers and teachers and anything else you put in my way, but giant spiders? Nein! That thing needs to die! It’s an abomination!"

"I believe it’s classed as a beast actually..."

"Seriously Bren!?" Wulf practically screeches, his usually deep voice almost breaking in outrage, pulling his arms free. "Stop being a nerd and help me kill it!"

"If you bring the cave down, what happens to the river?" Bren sighs impatiently.

"What?" Wulf pauses in casting another spell to stare at him indignantly. "I don’t care about the river, I care about the spider!"

"The river supplies our town with water and powers our mill... If you bring the cave down, at the very least you'll reduce the flow, you might even stop it altogether. Auf Wiedersehen spider, auf wiedersehen Academy places, auf wiedersehen us ever seeing the light of day again after the Starosta throws us into jail!" Bren folds his arms across his chest and taps his foot, doing a fair impression of Matron with a bee in her bonnet.

Astrid splashes closer, keeping a wary eye on the cave mouth. "He’s right Wulf. It’s not following us, let’s just go." With a defeated sigh, Wulf let’s his hands fall and turns, beginning to trudge up the river with them away from the cave. "You lost your shoes." She notes, nodding towards his empty hands.

"Ja." He huffs. "I dropped them when I grabbed hold of Bren. Lucky I have a spare pair. Don’t much fancy going back in to find them." His grin is wry, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes as he looks back at the cave nervously. She pats his back soothingly, but she’s unable to stop her own anxious glance back at the cave mouth. "Thanks for stopping me Bren, I didn’t think of the river."

"Just doing my job as a _nerd_." He smirks. "Someone's got to try to keep you out of jail. And likewise, thanks for stopping me from being eaten. Both of you."

This time Wulf's grin is genuine, and more than a little bit proud. "All in all though, apart from the end, we had a great time didn’t we?" Astrid rolls her eyes and chuckles as he puts an arm each around her and Bren, giving them a firm squeeze.

"It was certainly interesting..." She wheezes against the bone crushing hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A definite influence for this chapter in particular, but really for any time the Blumentrio are getting up to fun or mischief, is the song Sixteen by Ellie Goulding. It makes me think of them every time I hear it.)


	17. Wulf Logic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was meant to be one chapter, but oops, I wrote way too much and before I knew it I needed to split it. As a result though, the next chapter should be up in only a day or so once I’ve had a chance to proof read and make inevitable edits. So if anyone is still reading this thing and therefore waiting for an update, you’ll get two in quick succession!
> 
> Warnings: A very tiny bit of smut and, as usual, some terrible German as follows;  
> Sich beruhigen - Calm down  
> Kinder - Children  
> Hochsommer - Highsummer (the celebration in the Exandrian Calendar)

The next three weeks leading up to the end of the summer break go even better than Astrid had imagined they would, especially given the situation with her mother. Almost every day Wulf, or Bren disguised as Wulf, picks her up from home and the deception continues to run smoothly, much to her and Bren's surprise.

"You two are so pessimistic." Wulf sighs one day, sprawled out under an oak tree at the edge of the woodland close to the Ermendrud's farm. "I told you it would work, you should have more faith in me."

"Pfft!" Astrid laughs. "This coming from the one who thought it was a good idea to go into a spider-infested cave."

"Giant spiders no less." Bren adds dryly, propped up beside her against the thick trunk with one arm slung around her shoulders and an open book on Abjuration magic in the other hand.

"How was I to know about the giant spider?" Wulf stutters defensively. "Anyway, we all had a good time and no one died so I call that a success! Wulf logic." He says proudly with a lopsided grin, and Astrid and Bren can’t help laughing.

That is, until the second time " _Wulf logic_ " almost gets them into trouble.

For once the weather is overcast, dark clouds peppering the sky and a strong but still pleasantly warm wind gusting across the fields towards the top of the valley's rolling sides.

"We should head back to the farm, it looks like it’s going to rain." Bren points at a particularly dark swathe of clouds to the south, a translucent wall of misty drizzle clearly visible trailing down towards the land underneath, and moving their way.

"And?" Wulf snorts. "It’s only rain. Oh. You’ve a book in your pocket don’t you?" He says with a sigh as Bren subconsciously places a hand over a slight bulge in the lower portion of his coat. "Gods Bren, stop reading all the time, you’re making the rest of us look bad."

"I just thought you were happy to see me." Astrid smirks up at Bren suggestively, earning a sly grin in return. She shoots a glare at Wulf as he noisily pretends to gag.

Their route back takes them directly past one of the guard towers in the fields on the town boundary, tall wooden structures buttressed by thick timbers at the base and rising a good fifty feet up with rough cladding protecting the interior from the weather. Astrid counts four crownsguard standing atop the covered platform, keeping a close watch on the surrounding fields.

"They must be able to see for miles." She wonders, pausing to look up at the tower.

"From that height, a good fifteen miles or more on a clear day probably. They have looking glasses too." Bren says, following her gaze upwards.

"We don’t even need towers in Blumenthal, let alone towers so tall you can see that far. Where do they think they are, the border?" Wulf scoffs. "You ask me, they’re compensating."

"Compensating?" Astrid asks, frowning.

"Yes you know. _Compensating_..." Wulf nods down towards his crotch.

Astrid barks a laugh. "You think the crownsguard use such tall watchtowers because they all have small dicks? Gods Wulf."

"Technically, the King and the Cerberus Assembly had them built so..." Bren adds with a grin.

"That is definitely treason Bren." Wulf laughs. "I’m so proud."

"Oi!" Their laughter suddenly curtailed, the three look up at the tower top, startled. "You children have no business being out here! Leave at once!" A rough voice shouts down, only just audible over the wind.

"No business?" Wulf grumbles sourly under his breath, spitting onto the freshly ploughed soil. "It’s our bloody town. Most of them come from Rexxentrum."

"I guess they’re sensitive about people looking at their compensation." Bren snorts, chuckling. The three of them collapse into laughter, slowly heading off away from the tower.

"Well, they want business, I’ll show them my business..." Wulf smirks when they’re almost halfway across the field away from the tower, beginning to unfasten his trousers.

"What are you doing?" Bren asks warily.

"My friends, there is going to be a full moon..." he grins. Astrid hastily covers her eyes with a yelp when he begins to pull both trousers and underwear down.

"Wulf! Stop, what are you trying to do, get us arrested?" Bren laughs, but Astrid can hear a rising note of worry in his voice. "What if they shoot at us?"

She hears Wulf pause as he tuts loudly. "They won’t shoot at us. We’re just _children_ , remember. And besides, their stupidly tall tower will take them a stupidly long time to climb down from. By the time they get to ground level we'll have had time to run too far for them to catch us."

Carefully uncovering her eyes but shielding him from her view as much as possible with a hand, Astrid looks back at the tower as Wulf continues in pulling down his trousers, laughing along with Bren as he bends over facing away from it. All four guards quickly move to the side closest to them, pointing angrily. One hastily runs to a corner, and within moments they hear a bell clanging.

"Ok Wulf, time to go." Bren says still chuckling, clapping a hand on their friend’s back.

"Sich beruhigen," Wulf beams proudly, "like I said, it will take them ages to..."

"Ohhh, scheiße..." Bren interrupts nervously, just as Astrid notices the door at the base of the tower fly open and crownsguard begin to stream out, the four still on the top looking decidedly amused now. "Run!" He shouts, though none of them need the hint.

"Why do you always have to take things too far!" Astrid yells at Wulf as they run over the freshly tilled earth, leaping the long ruts and furrows as carefully as they can at speed.

"How was I supposed to know there were guards in the bottom too!" He shouts back defensively, hindered by trying to pull up and refasten his trousers as he runs.

"There were only four on the top." Bren pants, shaking his head grimly. "We should have worked it out. They’re there to fight groups of bandits, they’re never going to leave just four men to do that alone."

"See!" Wulf shouts victoriously. "You didn’t realise either!"

" _We_ weren’t flashing our arses at them!" Astrid screeches, the edge of the woods looming not far ahead. Crashing through the undergrowth, lungs burning from the long sprint, she feels Bren take her hand and lets him lead her to the base of a fallen tree, crouching with him against the soil filled rootball. A few metres away she sees Wulf huddled behind a thick shrub, his chest heaving as much as hers or Bren's.

Heartbeat thudding loud in her ears, Astrid tries to steady her breathing and keep as quiet as possible as she hears the guards drawing closer. That they too sound out of breath is small comfort when they enter the edge of the woods, making no effort to conceal themselves.

"Kinder..." a deep, grating voice calls from barely ten feet away and edging closer. "Come out kinder. We just want to give you a gentle lesson on respecting the crownsguard and then we’ll let you on your way." The obvious sneer in his voice sets her teeth on edge.

To her horror, he comes into view through the undergrowth, about to pass right by Wulf when another voice calls out from further back towards the field, feminine but not remotely soft. "Lieutenant Gerrick! Enough! We’re above terrifying children for nothing more than dented pride, and besides, they’ll be well away from us by now. You will return to your post."

"Yes Captain." He shouts back immediately, muttering under his breath as he stalks back towards the edge of the trees. The three of them sit still and silent, in no hurry to move even when the woods grow silent again.

After a while, Bren moves beside her, slowly chancing a glance over the top of the fallen tree to make sure they’ve really left. "Coast is clear." He says breathlessly. Astrid and Wulf breathe twin sighs of relief.

Still nervous, they make their way through the woods quietly, the first peel of thunder from the approaching storm clouds making all three of them jump. By the time they're within sight of the farm the storm is directly overhead, the thunder accompanied now by fierce flashes of lightening and torrential rain. They sprint to the barn, dripping water onto the beaten earth floor as Bren slides the door shut behind them.

"One of these days Wulf, you’re going to get us into real trouble..." Astrid huffs, clambering onto a bale of straw and wringing out her sopping wet hair.

"I know." He sighs mournfully, falling backwards into the vast haystack taking up much of the space. "I’m sorry."

"It _was_ funny." Bren shrugs, flashing them both a grin. It turns into a grimace as he fishes the book from his coat pocket, the pages looking decidedly damp.

"I suppose life would be a lot more boring without _Wulf logic_ to keep things interesting." Astrid can’t help smiling, and after struggling to sit up in the hay, Wulf looks more cheerful.

"I’m glad you think so because tomorrow, I was thinking we could try pranking the Starosta herself, what do you think?" He grins, obviously joking, but Bren and Astrid groan regardless.

The rest of their last few weeks of the holiday are remarkably relaxed in comparison, the weather cycling over a matter of hours through baking hot heatwaves and cooler summer downpours without much warning, just a typical Zemnian summer.

It’s during one of those downpours, sequestered in the barn at the Ermendrud’s farm, that Astrid comes to a realisation. Wulf having left she and Bren to spend some time alone, they waste no time taking full advantage. Nestled in a recess in the hay stack, blouse unbuttoned, Bren’s lips making marks on her neck she’ll struggle to hide from her sharp-eyed mother, and his very nimble fingers drawing intricate patterns on her thigh as they edge ever closer to where she really wants them, she closes her eyes in bliss and lets her mind wander. And soon wishes she hadn’t. 

“We won’t be able to spend Hochsommer together.” She says sadly, opening her eyes and sitting up a little, displacing Bren who had been more thoroughly absorbed in his ministrations than she’d realised. He blinks at her in surprise. Astrid can’t help a little snicker at how dazed he looks, and a stab of pride that she’s the cause of it.

“Hochsommer?” he asks, as though he’s never heard of it before.

She tuts, smiling. “Yes, Hochsommer. You know, one of the biggest holidays in Exandria, the place we live? It happens every year on the seventh of Sydenstar? It also happens to be the night before we go back to the Academy, and we won’t be able to risk being seen together.” Her smile drops at that last sentence, disappointment settling in the pit of her stomach.

He sighs and shifts off of her, moving to sit beside her and place an arm around her shoulders. “I’m sure we can come up with something. We’re here aren’t we?” He nods at their surroundings, smiling at her reassuringly. “Don’t be sad, I don’t like it when you’re sad. We’ll see each other on Hochsommer, I promise.”

“You can’t promise that.” She says sullenly. “You’re only saying it so you can get back to what we were doing before.”

He raises his eyebrows, looking affronted. “Well yes, I do as a matter of fact, I was quite enjoying it and I thought you were too.” He leans in to begin his assault on her neck once again, and she can’t help tilting her head to give him better access, sighing contentedly despite her mood. “And besides,” he says, pulling away after just a few seconds to look at her again, smirking at her frown from the sudden loss of contact, “I absolutely can promise it.”

“How?” She asks suspiciously, stroking her fingertips lightly up his trouser covered leg, stopping just short of the very prominent bulge at his crotch before stroking back down again and repeating the motion. She grins slyly at his little groan and the way his hips twitch on impulse. If he wanted to tease her, well two could play at that game.

“I have a secret weapon.” He licks his lips, his voice decidedly more gravelly than before. “Wulf.”

Abruptly she pulls her hand away to cover her face. “No more schemes from him, please no more!"

“You have to admit, he is very good at what he does.”

“What can he possibly come up with that’s going to allow us to spend the evening together in the centre of town, surrounded by the entire population of Blumenthal, including our families? It just can’t be done Bren.” She shakes her head, flopping back down into the hay with an irritated grunt.

“Disguise Self has been working fine so far...”

“No Bren.” She cuts him off, sighing and taking his hand. “I want to dance with you, and kiss you, not you disguised as Wulf. And besides, I want him to be there too. It would be perfect if the three of us could spend the last night of the summer break together without having to constantly worry we’ll be found out.”

Bren looks down at her for a moment before leaning in to kiss her, all his previous lust-fueled impatience gone, replaced by a slow intensity that leaves her breathless.

“You know as well as I do,” he says as he pulls back a few inches, his voice impressively steady she notices, considering the effect the kiss had on her, “that the impossibility of the situation will only spur him on. Like you said, the three of us spending it together would be perfect. So we’ll just have to come up with something particularly brilliant. We are three of the brightest minds in the Empire.” She rolls her eyes in amusement at his smug grin that suggests he really means it too. “If we can’t work out this conundrum, no one can.”

“Bren Ermendrud, if your ego were any bigger it wouldn’t fit in this barn.” she grins up at him, stroking his short fringe away from his forehead.

“Tell me I'm wrong.” He mumbles against her neck as his teeth gently nip the skin below her earlobe.

“You’re wrong.” She smiles indulgently, not really meaning it. They are pretty smart after all.

“Am I?” He asks, his hand darting under the hem of her skirt to glide up her leg with purpose.

“Yes.” She answers shakily, biting her lip in anticipation.

“Are you sure?” He asks again as his fingertips breech her underwear.

“Yes...” She breathes, her own hands moving to grip his shoulders, digging her nails in through his half unbuttoned shirt.

“Certain?”

“Yes!” She gasps sharply, though this time it has much more to do with what his fingers are doing, and very little to do with answering his question.

A quite considerable time later, once they’re both fully dressed and breathing steadily again, Bren goes to fetch Wulf from the house, and the three of them sit down together in the barn to discuss their problem. Astrid has to admit, it really doesn’t take long for Wulf to come up with a remarkably simple yet genius solution.

Now all she has to do is convince herself that it'll actually work.


	18. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one, but as ever, my attempt at editing and proofing only served to add words rather than take them away, so have a 5.5k lump of text. Hopefully it’s a good 5.5k! It’s been buzzing around my head for months so it’s good to finally have it out.
> 
> Terrible German this chapter includes:  
> Hochsommer - Highsummer  
> Weißer Drache - White Dragon  
> Ausgezeichnet - Excellent  
> Danke - Thanks  
> Gern geschehen - You’re welcome  
> Prost - Cheers

"Isn’t it odd, Eodwulf not wanting to meet you here? Did you two have an argument?" Astrid’s mother asks with an accusing frown as they make their way down the lane towards the town in the rapidly dimming twilight, her father lagging behind with his nose in a book. "He’s probably with another girl, knowing him."

Astrid rolls her eyes. "He isn’t with another girl Mutter. He told Bren about us yesterday and wanted to try and smooth things over with him before meeting me." She lies smoothly. She hopes it's smooth anyway, the butterflies in her stomach seem the size of cats and all she can think of are all the ways their plan could go wrong.

"How did he take it, the Ermendrud boy?" Her mother asks, and even in the half light, Astrid can see the hint of a sadistic smile on her lips. She manages not to sneer at the older woman, but only just.

"As you’d expect apparently. Not very well. But he had to find out some time." She shrugs. Her mother's smile broadens with the news, accompanied with a satisfied nod which Astrid chooses to take as a sign that her deception has worked so far.

"I quite liked him." Her father says distractedly, without looking up from his book. She and her mother tut in unison.

It isn’t long before Astrid begins to hear music drifting up the hill from the celebrations below, and she can’t help but feel a little lighter, excitement warring with her nerves. By the time they reach the main square the sky is almost fully dark, stars beginning to peek through in the cloudless night, but the square itself seems lit almost as bright as day. Lamps brighten every window, red and gold candlelit lanterns in the colours of the Empire crisscross high above the square on long strings, and candles stand clumped together packed onto every available inch of free surface. After all, as a celebration of Pelor, the Dawnfather and the god of the sun, it would be a poor showing if Hochsommer weren’t brightly illuminated.

Lining three edges of the square, market stalls usually full of goods and wares now serve a variety of traditional Zemnian stews, pastries, and other delicacies, the air is thick with cooking smells, and smoke rises from at least three fire pits that she can see where great slabs of meat turn on spits, carved and served to those crowding round them in fist sized bread rolls. Five long tables piled high with casks and barrels stand in front of the Weißer Drache Inn, it’s bar staff run ragged trying to serve the clamouring mass of patrons calling for ale.

The centre of the square is taken up by two roughly constructed wooden platforms, standing just off to either side of the statue of King Manfreid Dwendal. A band of five musicians crowd the smaller of the two platforms, playing traditional Zemnian songs on their various instruments. On thelarger, the Starosta stands with a group of higher ranking Righteous Brand soldiers, not that Astrid has ever had much interest in telling the difference in ranks. She barely glances at them now - the recruiting effort has never held any great fascination for her.

Hochsommer may be Pelor's celebration in truth, but the Empire is content to highjack it in their own way, using it as a kind of recruiting drive to swell the ranks of the Righteous Brand with those eager to protect their king and homeland. Soldiers from the barracks in Rexxentrum are out in force mingling through the crowd, speaking to youngsters who might show interest in signing up, handing out toy soldiers and small wooden toy swords to children, and even helping to man some of the refreshment stalls. Anything to bolster their reputation and that of the crown.

In truth, Pelor being the god of agriculture as well as the sun, he’s very well worshipped in Blumenthal and the celebration would take place every year with or without the Righteous Brand. The recruitment effort may hold little interest for the vast majority of the town's residents, but the Rexxentrum garrison's generous donation of coin toward the celebration is certainly very welcome.

Astrid knows exactly where Wulf is waiting for her, but she makes a show of pretending to look out for him. Just as she’d hoped, her mother spots him in the crowd waiting beside the statue and points him out to her, unwittingly aiding the deception. As she moves towards him through the milling masses, her mother follows, seemingly just happening to drift in the same direction as if by coincidence, though Astrid knows better. Her father naturally comes along too, as though chained by an invisible leash to his wife.

Unsurprisingly, when she reaches Wulf, he’s been accosted by a small hoard of his usual hangers on. She knows him well enough to tell that despite his face showing a distinct lack of interest in them, not responding to their flirting is killing him. Her amusement at his discomfort is short lived though, when upon her arrival he promptly beams at her, grabs her round the waist without warning, and throws her into what must appear to anyone around them to be a rather passionate dip kiss. She squeaks and flings her arms around his neck to stop from falling back, concealing the fact that his lips are actually very safely planted on her cheek.

"You and Bren both owe me big time." He whispers just loud enough for her to hear above the din of the surrounding celebration, abruptly pulling away and righting her. He grins down at her smugly and puts an arm around her shoulder.

The girls around him grimace and begin to dissipate muttering sourly to each other about how Astrid somehow managed to snag both Bren and Wulf, and what they could possibly see in her. Her cheeks colour in embarrassment, but before she can do anything but glare at their retreating backs, Bren appears through a brief opening in the crowd.

His face is a picture of pure fury, exactly according to plan, but convincing enough that Astrid's stomach flips as she wonders if he thinks Wulf really did kiss her. He takes a step towards them before seeming to reconsider, turning on his heel and stalking off through the crowd. Una, who had been standing at his side, rolls her eyes, plainly aware of what they’re up to. She takes a deep drink from her tankard, shaking her head disapprovingly. Wulf manages to look at least a little abashed, though the amusement in his eyes is obvious to Astrid.

"Poor Bren." Astrid's mother says mockingly, plainly raising her voice so that Una can hear her, "Ah well, you certainly made the right choice there Astrid. Good riddance to bad rubbish is what I say." Her smug grin makes Astrid want to grind her teeth. Una lowers her tankard slowly, the motherly woman's eyes alight with uncharacteristic burning rage. She takes barely half a step towards Astrid's mother before Leofric is suddenly there in front of her, smoothly grabbing her by the shoulders and hustling her away through the crowd, leaning close to talk quietly in her ear.

"Let’s dance Astrid!" Wulf says hurriedly, taking her arm and all but dragging her off through the crush of people. She unclenches the fists she hadn’t even realised she’d balled up and works hard at not glaring back at her mother, remembering that punching the woman is certainly not part of the plan.

Making an effort to enjoy herself and try to forget her stupid mother and her nerves over the plan for a while, Astrid loses herself in the atmosphere of the celebrations, she and Wulf joining the end of a row of couples and dancing a few rounds together. What he lacks in skill he certainly makes up for in enthusiasm, and she soon finds herself grinning and laughing along with everyone else.

When the third dance finishes, she takes Wulf's hand and begins to head slowly towards the west side of the square, taking care not to draw attention to them by appearing to hurry. Keeping a close eye out for her mother, who she last saw surrounded by the women from her knitting group and with any luck distracted by local gossip by now, she and Wulf wait for a lull in the crowd before slipping into a dim passageway between two shops. To anyone watching they’d just look like a young couple sneaking off for some privacy, and with Wulf's reputation, nothing out of the ordinary.

"I’ll wait here." He says, pausing just inside the alley's shadows. "When you two are finished dancing, just whistle and I’ll come and find you."

"Thank you." She smiles gratefully, giving his arm a quick squeeze before heading deeper into the passageway. Rounding a corner, having to feel her way in the dark along the brick walls on either side, it suddenly lets out onto a small courtyard surrounded on two sides by the rear walls of shops with another even smaller passageway leading off between them, and the remaining two sides bordered by the back of the large L shaped stable block of the crownsguard's barracks.

The smell of horses and dung lies heavy in the air, but Astrid is barely aware of it. As soon as Bren sees her he stands from his precarious seat atop an upturned barrel with a beaming smile, four globules of Dancing Lights illuminating him with their amber glow. He looks beautiful, and it takes her breath away.

"Everything going to plan so far?" He asks as he reaches her.

She nods, clearing her throat and trying to concentrate. "Perfectly. Though, your mother looked set to thump mine for a second, till your father intervened." She grins, conveniently forgetting that she was fairly close to violence herself.

" _My_ mother?" He asks, mouth falling open in shock.

Astrid laughs, nodding again. "Remind me never to get on the wrong side of her."

"You couldn’t," he says, taking her into his arms, "you’re perfect." He leans down to kiss her and she sighs blissfully, not caring one bit if she sounds pathetic. They lose themselves in each other for a while, Astrid isn’t sure how long, the slow slide of lips and tongues, bodies pressed together inthe dim light, music filtering in from the raucous celebrations just a short distance away.

He pulls away a few inches to rub their noses together as they hear a loud cheer in the main square and the band begins to play a waltz. "Shall we Schatz?" His voice is gratifyingly breathless as he moves awkwardly into more or less the correct hold, leading her into the rising falling steps of the dance.

The lights follows them as they dance, clustering and bobbing in a rhythm of their own as Bren and Astrid swirl around the tight space as best they can without knocking into the crates and barrels stored haphazardly around the edges.

"You’ve been practicing." She smiles at him as his cheeks colour.

"Wulf thought it was hilarious when he caught me going through the steps in the barn the other day. I had to throw a bucket at him to get him to leave."

"Don’t listen to Wulf," she grins, " _I_ appreciate the effort."

"You’re still much better than me Schatz." He leans in to nuzzle against her neck, promptly faltering in the steps and almost tripping. "See." He chuckles, looking down to correct his feet.

The music finishes with another cheer, the musicians quickly switching to a popular Zemnian country dance. She laughs as Bren immediately changes his hold and swings her into the much more familiar rhythm, looking relieved. The turns and spins are dizzying, and she can hear the whoops and shrieks of the couples dancing in the square, even over her and Bren’s own laughter. Eventually he trips and lands sprawling on a crate with her falling into his lap, both out of breath. Her gaze falls on his lips, and she leans up to kiss him.

"I don’t know where Astrid is, I haven’t seen her in a while..." Wulf's voice suddenly sounds loud and clear from the alleyway. Bren and Astrid look at each other warily.

"I saw you two go off together, now you’re skulking in the shadows." They hear Astrid's mother reply, only just audible over the sounds of celebrations beyond. "What are you up to, the pair of you?"

Astrid leaps up off of Bren, her heart racing. "Like I said, I haven’t seen her, she... left." Wulf explains, sounding flustered.

"Left? Why?"

"Uhh... she... well... I don’t..." Wulf stutters.

"Is she in there?" Her mother demands when he fails to come up with an answer. Astrid’s stomach drops as she stares at the passageway. She jumps as Bren takes her hand, silently gesturing towards the second alleyway and pulling her towards it.

"No!" Wulf answers, a little too emphatically. Bren picks up his pace and the pair break into a run. "She’s not... I told you, I don’t know where she went Frau..."

Bren and Astrid barely reach the passageway when two sets of footsteps sound loudly behind them. He waves his hand to dispel the Dancing Lights and they press against the shadowed walls of the tiny space just in time to see Astrid's mother storm into the dimly moonlit courtyard from the alleyway opposite theirs, followed immediately by a very flustered looking Wulf. He sighs in relief, until she rounds on him when a quick scan of the courtyard reveals it to be empty.

"Where is she Eodwulf?" She demands crossly. "Why would she just leave?"

"She didn’t say." He answers, chin titled upwards in defiance.

"She didn’t say..." her mother repeats unconvincedly, tapping her index finger against her lips. "Is she with Bren, Eodwulf?" She asks, her voice disturbingly calm. Astrid only just manages to hold back a gasp.

"You saw Bren leave." Wulf shrugs dismissively.

"And now she’s gone too. A little convenient isn’t it?"

He shifts uncomfortably. "She’s not with Bren. She just needed some space."

"I thought you said she didn’t tell you why she left." Wulf gulps so hard Astrid hears it from across the courtyard. "Did you say something to her Eodwulf? Or do something...?"

"No!" He near shouts, his expression horrified. "I know I have a reputation, but I would never do anything like that!"

"Perhaps I should fetch the crownsguard to ask you a few questions." She continues, ignoring him. "A young girl disappearing for no good reason at night, you skulking about in the dark... it doesn’t look good does it." Her tone is clearly aimed at manipulation, with not a hint of genuine concern for her daughter, but Wulf looks poleaxed all the same.

"I didn’t... she’s not..." he sucks in a ragged breath. "I told you, I don’t know..."

"Have it your way." Astrid's mother cuts in curtly, striding past him back towards the alleyway.

Wulf moves to follow her with a frustrated groan, clapping a hand over his face. "She needed space because I asked her to marry me and she needed time to think!" He says in a rush. Astrid hears herself squeak, Bren snorting amusedly beside her. Luckily, her mother doesn’t seem to have heard as she stops and turns around slowly to face Wulf again.

"You asked her to marry you?" She says without a hint of emotion.

"I... Ja." He sighs defeatedly, running a hand through his hair embarrassedly.

Her mother purses her lips, deep in thought. "Well," she says eventually, "I can see why you didn’t want to tell me."

"Ja." He agrees. Abruptly she realises Bren is shaking with the effort of not laughing, and she pokes him in the ribs hard enough to make him grunt.

"And I suppose this means you love my daughter Eodwulf, else you wouldn’t have asked her. Especially with your track record."

"I do." He answers, his voice the steadiest she’s heard it since she left him in the alley what feels like hours ago. "I care very deeply for her."

"I see..." The woman smiles sneeringly, steepling her fingers. "Perhaps she really isn’t as naive as I thought. Ausgezeichnet." She turns on her heel and strolls out of the courtyard without another word, leaving Wulf looking stunned.

He sits down heavily on a crate with his head in his hands as Bren and Astrid creep out of their passageway hideout once the coast is clear. "Why? Why did I say that?" He mutters, the sound muffled by his hands.

"Never mind that, are you going to say yes Astrid?" Bren smirks. She rolls her eyes.

"Are you alright Wulf?" She asks, moving a barrel to sit beside him.

"How are _you_ related to _that_?" He asks incredulously, looking up at her. "She’s a lunatic. An evil lunatic!"

Astrid shrugs. "No arguments here. I have to live with her." She smiles broadly at the thought that at least tomorrow they’ll all be heading back to the Academy together. "Thank you Wulf, for warning us and dealing with her. Even if there is going to be considerable fallout to deal with." She frowns, just imagining the conversation she’s going to have to have with her mother when she gets home.

"Actually, I think this could work to your advantage." Bren says consideringly. Astrid and Wulf both stare at him as though _he’s_ the lunatic. "Hear me out. She looked pretty happy when she left. With what she said and her body language, I don’t think it was the thought of you two actually marrying that she was pleased with. Think about it Astrid, she wants you to find some rich, titled lord at the Academy, not marry the backup plan without even trying to find better first."

"Danke..." Wulf says dryly.

"Gern geschehen. But do you see my point?" He looks at her as though willing her to understand.

She thinks back to what her mother said before she left. _Perhaps she really isn’t as naive as I thought. Ausgezeichnet._ "She thinks if I’ve managed to make someone like Wulf fall in love with me in such a short time, I might actually have a chance of snagging a lord. She was... proud of me. Wow. There’s a first time for everything I suppose."

"Congratulations. You’ve managed to fake living up to her expectations of being a money-grabbing whore. Now please can we go and get drunk because I really need it after that." Wulf whines, rising from his crate. Astrid snorts a laugh and gestures for him to lead the way, down the second passageway and out onto the much quieter streets to the south of the town square, their original plan finally back on track.

Keeping to the shadows as much as possible and looking out warily, all three audibly sigh with relief once they pass the final line of houses on the town's southern slope, continuing to climb up the valley side through a vast, steep meadow of wildflowers and tall grass.

"This should be far enough." Bren pants eventually as they near the ridge line at the top of the hill, and flops down into the grass on his back. Astrid and Eodwulf collapse on either side of him, both just as worn out from the hard gradient of the walk. Recovering enough to sit up, Astrid has to admit, it was worth the effort to reach this spot.

This high up the valley she can just see the tail end of the sunset to the west, a hint of a yellowish glow fading to purple and rapidly darkening blue further towards the east. Both moons are easily visible, Catha's glow illuminating both the land around them and the slate rooftops of the town with a soft silvery light. The square is clearly visible, lit brightly in stark contrast to the darkened streets and buildings of the rest of Blumenthal, the sounds of music and revelry reaching them even up here.

"Prost." Wulf says, holding his flask out towards her.

She takes it and swigs liberally, expecting ale. The sharp, burning flavour that hits her tongue makes her splutter, staring at the flask disgustedly. "What is that?" She coughs, wiping her chin with her sleeve. Bren takes the flask from her and sniffs, grimacing.

"Brandy." Wulf laughs, patting her on the back in an effort to help clear her airway.

"Where did you get brandy from?" Bren asks, taking a much smaller and more wary sip. He screws his nose up as he swallows, but takes a second longer sip regardless.

"Berda. She felt bad about what happened when her father caught us, so she stole it from her parent's liquor cabinet and gave it to me. Gave me plenty more than that too." He grins, waggling his eyebrows. It's Bren's turn to almost choke on the brandy this time, though with laughter rather than the strong taste. He hands it back to Wulf, who takes a generous gulp before passing it back to Astrid again.

It doesn’t take long for her to start to feel the pleasant, gentle warmth of the alcohol fanning out from her belly to make her feel sluggish and lightheaded. She giggles as one of Bren's dancing lights whizzes past her nose. Clumsily casting Mage Hand, she tickles his ribs with the spectral digits, making him collapse back into the grass laughing.

"You two are adorable." Wulf chuckles, his speech ever so slightly slurred.

"I wish we’d been friends like this before we went to the Academy." She muses, dispelling Mage Hand and helping Bren to sit up again. "I can’t wait to go back. Is that bad?"

"Why would it be bad?" Bren asks, taking another sip from the flask.

"I feel like I should miss Blumenthal more. Like it should still feel at least a little like home. I suppose though, at the Academy it’s just us three against the world, and here it feels as though it’s just us three as well, so really, home is just wherever I am with you two." She frowns down at her lap, thinking back over what she said to make sure it made sense, her thoughts well and truly muddled.

"Awww." Bren and Wulf say in unison. The three of them break into a fit of laughter, shushing each other amusedly when they eventually remember they’re trying to be covert.

"I love you two." Wulf says suddenly when their chuckles finally die down. "I wouldn’t have got through this summer without you. I’d probably be on the streets in Rexxentrum, or... you know." He swallows thickly, a twist to his mouth as his gaze moves towards the west, in the direction of his father's forge. "You’re right Astrid, my home's with you too."

"We’re family." Bren nods, grinning at them both. "Better than family, because we chose each other."

The warm westerly breeze picks up briefly, stirring the grass around them with a soft rustle and sending dozens of little yellow lights blinking into the air around them. It takes Astrid a moment in her addled state to realise they’re fireflies. Silently, they watch them drift away down the slope towards the town, until Wulf let’s out a loud belch followed by a yawn. Astrid rolls her eyes with a chuckle.

The celebration in the square below them is still in full swing if the distant sounds of music and laughter are anything to go by. Astrid knows from experience that the party will continue until well towards dawn the next morning.

"We should head home." Bren says sensibly, if a little slurred. "We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Reluctantly they stagger to their feet, all three struggling for balance, grasping each other’s arms for support as they try to make their way down the steep slope without stumbling too badly. They sneak through the darkened streets when they reach the town, heading back up the opposite side of the valley towards the lane Astrid's house sits on.

At the corner of the crossroads a safe distance away, Wulf half falls through a gap in the hedgerow into a field, announcing loudly that he needs to pee, leaving Astrid and Bren to share a slightly drunken, sloppy kiss that simultaneously helps bring her to her senses and addles them again. Wulf's mocking whistle upon his return makes them draw apart reluctantly, and after a somewhat uncoordinated group hug that nearly sends all three of them into the ditch at the side of the road in a giggling heap, Astrid says her goodbyes and makes the short journey the rest of the way up the hill to her house.

When she reaches the garden gate, she’s startled to find there’s a light in the sitting room window. Mumbling curses under her breath, she gives herself a shake and sucks in a few deep breaths, hoping that the walk and the cooling breeze has sobered her up enough to hold a conversation. Holding a hand up in front of her mouth she huffs a breath and sniffs, wincing at the brandy stench. _Maybe she won’t notice,_ she thinks to herself without much hope.

She finds both her parents in the sitting room, each in an armchair beside the unlit fireplace, her mother absorbed in a small embroidery hoop, her father reading a leather bound book.

"I didn’t think you’d be home yet." She says from the doorway, trying to keep her tone light as sheremoves her boots and stows them in the hall cupboard.

"It's no use playing the innocent." Her mother says calmly, folding her hands over the small embroidery hoop now abandoned in her lap. "We know exactly what happened tonight."

Astrid freezes, staring at the woman like a rabbit caught in torchlight. "You... do?"

"I caught him skulking around and got it out of him. A proposal Astrid, and from Eodwulf of all people!" Astrid only just manages to swallow a deep sigh of relief. Her shoulders sag regardless, but her mother seems to take it as a sign of defeat and continues on without pause. "Honestly, why didn’t you come and find me straight away with the news?"

"Why didn’t he ask me for your hand first, that’s what I want to know." Her father adds, puffing out his chest as if affronted. Astrid's mother tsks loudly at him, sending him back to his book grumbling under his breath.

"I... needed some space." Astrid explains, trying to recall the earlier conversation between Wulf and her mother, so as not to get caught out.

"Yes, so he said. Whatever for?" The woman scoffs. "You’re not considering saying yes are you?"

"No!" Astrid says a little too forcefully, eyes going wide. She laughs nervously when her mother raises an eyebrow, hoping it’s not too late to downplay it. "No. At least, not yet. But I’m hoping I can not exactly say no either." She frowns at her jumbled words, as does her mother.

"Do you mean that you’re going to put off giving him an answer for now?"

"Yes!" Astrid smiles gratefully. "Yes, that. Things have moved a little more swiftly than I’d planned, but I’m sure given how besotted he is I can keep coming up with reasons to delay giving him an answer for a while. With any luck I’ll have someone more worthy in my sights by the time he's fed up of waiting."

Her mother sits staring at her for a minute before breaking into a wide grin. Placing the embroidery hoop aside, she rises from her chair and crosses the room, wrapping her arms awkwardly around Astrid's shoulders to hug her. "And to think I doubted you. What a clever girl you are. You’ll have no trouble at all reeling someone in, no trouble at all I should think."

Astrid swallows uncomfortably. "Danke, Mutter." She croaks. Clearing her throat she heads towards the door to the stairs, eager to be anywhere but in her mother's company. _A pit of vipers seems attractive in comparison_ , she thinks to herself, suppressing a laugh.

"Have you been drinking?" Her mother's voice makes her jump as she reaches the door.

Turning slowly back to face the woman, she figures lying is probably useless. "Yes," she stammers, thinking on her feet, "I was in such a shock after Wulf proposed, I'm afraid I took a tankard I found unattended in the square and drank it. Sorry." She hopes she looks abashed rather than shifty. Her mother nods as though she accepts the explanation though and Astrid wastes no time in continuing her journey towards the hallway. "Goodnight Mutter, Goodnight Vater!" She calls over her shoulder when she’s already halfway up the stairs, not relaxing till she’s in her room with the door firmly closed.

Bright and early the next morning, before the sun is fully up, Astrid finds herself half slumped on top of her travelling case in Blumenthal's main square, with a splitting headache and eyes that feel dry and gritty. Her mother and father stand off to one side, him silent as usual, while she periodically tuts and makes a disparaging comment on the state of the place.

True to form, the Hochsommer revelry seems to have gone on well into the early hours, benches, tables and chairs left in untidy clusters all over the place, tankards and candle stubs littering almost every inch of free surface, empty spits and casks left abandoned atop refreshment stalls, and perhaps best of all, half a dozen revellers who failed to make it back home to their beds are slumped and snoring wherever they fell the night before. Astrid smiles at that, not least because her mother is so disgusted by it.

A short distance away, Bren and Wulf stand beside their own untidy assortment of bags and cases. Astrid makes a point of not looking directly at either of them, but even from the corner of her eye she's aware of the sense of tension between them. She’s quite in awe of them being able to fake it so well despite the sore heads they must surely both be feeling as badly as she is.

The clatter of hooves on the road leading into the square is a relief, though she tries not to look too eager. As the coach driver loads their cases and bags up onto the roof, securing them with thick lengths of coarse rope, she says her goodbyes to her parents.

"Write to me." Her mother says dramatically, kissing her lightly on the cheek while still managing to seem aloof. Astrid knows full well all her mother really wants is updates on her search for a rich husband, rather than having any interest at all in her studies or general wellbeing.

Her father's hug is slightly more genuine at least. "Take care." He smiles grimly at her. Just two words, but she wasn’t expecting more.

Climbing up into the cramped coach, she chances a look through the opposite window and almost bursts out laughing. Una has Bren trapped in a tight hug while he tries and fails to pry himself free, Wulf looking thoroughly amused as he shakes hands with Leofric. His amusement is short-lived, replaced by surprise when Una finally releases Bren and grabs him into a bone crushing hug instead, as though saying goodbye to a second son.

She dabs at her eyes with her sleeve as they join Astrid in the carriage, Leofric moving to put an arm around her. "Just you both look after each other." At a sharp look from Bren she rolls her eyes with a sigh. "And stop this silly fighting." She adds dryly in a weak attempt to help their ruse. Astrid grimaces apologetically at her, mouthing "sorry", but Una shakes it off with a smile, despite the tears clearly gathering in the corners of her eyes.

As soon as the carriage rumbles into motion, jolting and bouncing out of the square and along the road towards the winding hill out of the valley and Rexxentrum beyond, the three of them finally relax. Leaning against Bren's shoulder, his head coming to rest lightly on her own, Wulf stretching out as much as he can on the short bench opposite, Astrid slips into a contented sleep, dreaming of Rexxentrum's awe-inspiring high stone towers, of the shared joy of lessons in an Academy classroom, and of sitting on a moonlit hilltop with Bren and Wulf by her side, surrounded by tiny glowing yellow lights.


	19. Charm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can’t believe it’s been so long since I updated, sorry for the wait! This marks the beginning of the second half as it were, getting towards the more angsty part of the story, so I had some planning out to do which took time away from actually writing it. Hope you’re all well, thank you again for the kudos and lovely comments, they mean the world!

Fumbling with the door handle before half falling into her newly assigned dorm, Astrid throws down her heavy traveling case and bags with a harsh sigh of relief. Out of breath from the climb up through the accommodation wing, a glance around the room is confirmation that the three extra sets of stairs along the way are not the only change.

The stairs may be an inconvenience, but the four beds in the room instead of the eight in her previous dorm are at least a welcome difference. It’s still sharing, but it seems like luxury compared to last years crowded arrangement. Silently she hopes that this time perhaps at least one of her new roommates won’t despise her.

_First thing's first,_ she thinks to herself, _which bed to choose?_ Three of the beds are clearly still uninhabited with no possessions stowed in the vicinity, the fourth covered in a mass of unfolded clothes, books and bags that seem to have been abandoned mid-unpacking. She has a quick sit on the remaining three mattresses, testing the springs, considering the likely passage of the sun through the window throughout the day and the proximity to the small shared privy, before finally choosing the bed opposite the one already occupied, beside the small four-paned window and further from the privy than the other two beds.

Testing the mattress again and happy with her choice, she sets about unpacking her meagre belongings, folding, and storing her clothes, books and toiletries in the cubby space beside the bed and in her designated little closet across the room. She stifles a yawn with the back of her hand, rolling her shoulders which are still stiff from being jostled about on the journey in the carriage that morning. Her nap had removed some of her weariness from the night before, but she still feels exhausted and her headache is still present. And worsening if anything.

Vowing never to drink brandy again, she can’t help but smile at the memories. A perfect night, and now back at the Academy, a place she’s come to love far more than home. New classes, more comfortable accommodation, months before she has to face her mother again. She sighs happily, trying to ignore the slight pounding in the back of her skull, not wanting anything to ruin her happiness at being back.

Behind her the door is suddenly flung open, and before she can even turn to see who it is, the familiar little noise of disgust the newcomer makes has her stomach lurching with dread, bringing her back down to Earth with a bump.

"Uh! Really Matron? You’re going to make us share a room with that again?" Merinda Vossy barely gets the words out in her irritatingly shrill voice before Matron's large hand connects with the back of her head with a satisfying thunk. Merinda yelps, glaring daggers at the older woman as Renna Jenstorn struggles in behind her carrying a ridiculously excessive amount of luggage, fixing Astrid with a glare of her own.

"You were given plenty of warning that if you girls couldn’t decide amongst yourselves which of your little gaggle wanted to share with each other, you would be assigned rooms by me. So here we are." Matron's thunderhead frown shifts from the two scowling girls in the doorway to Astrid. "Close your mouth Astrid before you catch flies, and I’ll have no arguments from you either. The three of you will just have to learn to get along, you’re not children anymore."

Renna dumps her bags all over the floor, half collapsing onto the empty bed next to Astrid’s with a loud huff. Merinda flomps down onto the last free bed opposite Renna's with her arms folded tight across her chest, pouting petulantly, but neither says another word in protest. Matron nods once with a loud harrumph and turns on her heel to leave, muttering something about stray cats in a wardrobe that Astrid doesn’t quite catch the end of.

For an awkward moment after the door slams shut behind her the three of them are silent, watching each other contemptuously. When Astrid rolls her eyes and turns away to continue her unpacking, it seems to stir the others into action. Renna swings her legs up onto her bed to lounge on her side, looking every inch the queen, while Merinda rises gracefully from the other bed, coming to sit on the end of Astrid's to stare at her silently, expression blank but for a touch of a smirk at the corner of her mouth.

"What?" Astrid sighs eventually, when simply ignoring Merinda doesn’t bore her into going away.

"You’re on my bed." The girl states with a breathy little laugh, as though it should be obvious. Renna doesn’t even try to hide the grin blossoming on her face.

Astrid blinks at Merinda in stunned silence. When she doesn’t move, simply looking expectantly at her, Astrid realises she’s serious. "No."

"No?" Merinda huffs, her amusement plain, as though Astrid is joking.

"No." Astrid repeats firmly, glaring at the other girl. "I got here first, you’ve no right to ask me to move." Merinda exchanges looks with Renna before the pair burst out laughing.

"Oh Astrid, you didn’t really think Merinda was asking you for your bed did you? Don’t be silly." Renna giggles, biting her lip. Astrid knows exactly what’s coming next, biting back a sigh at the depressingly predictable routine the pair are playing out, thinking they’re terribly original and hilarious.

"Of course not, you idiot." Merinda chuckles, smiling all too sweetly. "I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. Now move, or we'll make you." The threat in her voice is clear, and the confidence too. Feeling defiant despite the danger, she stares blankly at Merinda, who’s lips tighten with impatience after a few seconds of silence. By the time Astrid catches Renna's fingers moving subtly from the corner of her eye, it’s too late to even think of defending herself...

******************

Astrid blinks, staring down at her hands apparently halfway through folding a blouse. Her head feels foggy, for a second, as though she’s woken suddenly from a deep sleep. With a start, she throws the blouse down onto the coverlet beside her in horror, finding herself seated on the bed Merinda and Renna had threatened to make her move to, the two of them stood across the room from her cackling with laughter. And then, in a rush of memories, it all comes back.

" _Now Astrid," Merinda had cooed, "you know you’re one of our dearest friends don’t you?" Astrid had nodded at her with an adoring smile. Merinda pursed her lips, trying not to laugh, shooting a half hearted frown at Renna who sniggered from the bed across the room. "And friends help each other don’t they?"_

_"Of course." Astrid answered, her smile widening._

_"Perfect. So you know, it would really help me if I could have this bed instead of that other one." The girl continued sweetly. Astrid's smile faltered. Wasn’t this her bed? Why should she give it up, she’d got there first after all? Were they really her frien..? "It would make me very, very happy Astrid. And as my friend, you want me to be happy, don’t you?" Merinda managed to look hurt somehow, despite the clear amusement on her face._

_"Oh, yes, of course I do Merinda, I’m sorry. I’ll move my things right away." Astrid practically jumped up from the bed and hastily began to gather her things._

_"Thank you Astrid, that’s really nice of you." Merinda giggled._

" _You’re the best friend ever Astrid." Renna laughed openly from the other bed. Astrid smiled at her as she moved a neatly folded pile of shifts from one set of drawers to the other across the room._

Coming back to herself, the freshly realised memories catching up to the present, Astrid only realises she's crying when a tear splashes onto her knee. "You used Charm Person on me..."

"Now maybe next time we tell you to do something, you’ll do it without arguing." Renna smirks from the bed opposite. "Otherwise, we might think up all sorts of clever ways to punish you."

"You can’t hurt me with it." She says defiantly, her voice slightly breathless.

"Not physically, but who knows what we could get you to do." Merinda sneers. "We could make you up like a clown and take you out for a walk so everyone can see. Orrrr... make you deliver a love note to a teacher, orrrr..." The pair break down in giggles as Astrid lets out a shuddering breath.

"There are always other spells too. And we're only going to get better at them. Using them on you if you forget your place will be great practice." Renna grins sadistically. "I think we’d like the room to ourselves now Astrid. Don’t come back till this evening, there’s a good girl." She says dismissively.

Feeling stunned, it takes Astrid a moment to start to move, shuffling off the bed in a daze. Taking a first wobbly step towards the door, she squeaks at a sudden sharp sting as though someone flicked her ear. Astrid recognises the spectral trace of Mage Hand as it whizzes past her face, almost invisible, and she shies away instinctively.

"Not fast enough." Renna laughs. "Run!" A sharp pinch on the other earlobe sends her running for the door, flinging it open and sprinting out at a dead run, the sound of Merinda and Renna's laughter seeming to follow her mockingly along the corridor and up the stairs.

When she reaches Bren and Wulf's new dorm, cheeks wet with tears and gasping for breath, she doesn’t even have the presence of mind to knock, simply bursting in.

The dorm is set out exactly the same as hers on the floor below, four beds each with a small set of drawers next to them, a window at one end, and four thin standing wardrobes against the wall opposite flanking the door to a cramped privy. All four of the room's inhabitants jump when the door bangs open, but as soon as she sees him, Astrid makes a beeline for Bren, almost blind to everything else around her.

Abandoning the shirt he had been putting onto a hanger to put away in one of the wardrobes, he wraps his arms tight around her as soon as she reaches him, and all she can do is sob into his chest. Behind her, she’s vaguely aware of Wulf quietly asking the other two boys sharing the room to leave, of the door slamming shut as they go, and finally of his large hand coming to rest on her shoulder with a small supportive squeeze as Bren makes calming shushing noises and rubs small soothing circles over her back.

With a last shuddering sob, her tears subside enough for her to manage to speak, her voice rough and choked. "Sorry."

"What for?" Bren asks incredulously.

"Bursting in crying like a pathetic idiot." She scrubs a hand roughly across her face, cross at herself for breaking down so badly. But everything had been so perfect. She’d been so full of hope, and now it all seemed to lay in ruins.

"What happened Astrid?" Wulf asks quietly. One glance at his face, a mask of dangerous calm, tells her he’s near enough worked out what could have provoked such a strong reaction in her.

"Nothing really." She sniffs, shaking her head. "I’m ok."

Bren looks down at her, raising an eyebrow unconvincedly. "Astrid..."

"You can’t overreact, you’ll just make things worse. There’s nothing that can be done, I’ve had a good cry, I’m ok now. Don’t worry about it. Your room's nice." She says, forcing a smile and walking to the window to inspect the view. Her attempt at changing the subject sounds even weaker than she thought it would, but she tries anyway. "You didn’t have to make your roommates leave, will they mind? I don’t want to make things difficult between you."

She chews her bottom lip as the pair of them stare at her expectantly, not remotely convinced by the display. With a deep sigh she sits on the bed Bren's partially folded clothes are half occupying, putting her head in her hands. She feels the bed dip on either side of her as the boys sit too, it’s metal frame creaking in protest.

"Who upset you?" Bren asks, taking one of her hands in both of his.

"Promise you won’t do anything?"

He narrows his eyes, but nods begrudgingly after a moment. "I promise."

She turns to look at Wulf who meets her stare stubbornly. "Please?"

With an irritated sigh and a deep eye roll, he eventually gives in. "Fine. Now tell us what happened."

She swallows hard before beginning. "I’m sharing with Renna and Merinda again, Matron forced them to, so that didn’t exactly go down well. They told me to swap beds with Merinda and threatened me when I refused, but before I could do anything Renna cast Charm Person on me." Bren’s eyes widen in comprehension, while Wulf's darken dangerously. "But it was ok, I mean, they only got me to move my things to other bed, I really just overreacted. It was my own fault for trying to stand up to them, as though last year taught me nothing. I should have just done as they asked and I could have avoided all this." She finishes in a rush, trying to convince herself as much as them.

"They cast a spell on you that left you practically helpless _for an hour_. That’s not nothing Astrid. You need to tell someone." Bren puts an arm around her shoulder and presses a kiss into her hair. "What if they do it again Schatz?"

Her muscles tense before she can stop them. "They probably won’t." She says weakly, knowing full well they’ve both seen through her by the increased concern in Bren's eyes and the tightness in Wulf's jaw. She half expects him to start grinding his teeth as she relents and fills them in on the threats the two girls made afterwards.

"How could you make us promise not to do anything!" Wulf shouts, rising from the bed to pace up and down the room. "We’re meant to just sit back and let them hurt you?"

"This is exactly why I did it, because I knew you’d both want to storm in and protect me. And don’t you try and deny it either," she stares accusingly at Bren's feigned look of innocence, "I know exactly what’s going on in your head. You’re trying to think of a clever way to get around your promise and warn them off."

He smiles grimly. "You know me so well... Wulf is right Astrid, we have to do something. There’s three of us and two of them, we have the advantage."

"Except I have to sleep just a few steps away from them every night, and you won’t be there then will you? If you charge in and teach them a lesson, you’ll only escalate things. They have plenty of friends, and plenty of influence among the other students. Probably some of the teachers too. Remember how Ferdinard nearly got us expelled only a few months ago? I’ll just have to tow the line with them as much as I can, keep my head down, and hopefully they’ll get bored of their little power trip eventually."

"And if they don’t get bored?" Bren asks quietly.

"Then it’ll be a frustrating year." She shrugs, trying to make light of the situation for their benefit while inside she’s barely holding back her fear. "I'll be ok."

Wulf clenches and unclenches his fists at his sides a few times indecisively, looking towards the door as if still thinking about going to warn them off in spite of her reasoning. His shoulders slump abruptly and he huffs irritably. "I hoped things would be better this year. That maybe we’d proved ourselves now and they’d leave us alone."

"So did I." She smiles sadly. "At least you seem to be having more luck with _your_ roommates, they didn’t argue when you asked them to go." She says, making an effort to seem at least a little cheerful.

Wulf shrugs, sitting down on the opposite bed. "They remember me punching Ferdinard last year, and I’m bigger than either of them."

"They have a healthy respect for our friend, most specifically his biceps." Bren smirks.

"That’s something at least." She laughs. "Why don’t you two finish unpacking. I’ll wash my face because I must look a mess after all that silly crying, and then we can go and check out the second year library access. I know you’ve been dying to get your hands on some new books Bren. Sound good?"

Bren and Wulf both stare worriedly at her for a moment. She knows they can see straight through her, knows they’re fully aware of how scared she is really and how she’s trying to cover it up by being positive and taking charge. But they also seem to realise she needs the pretence and the distraction, and walking into their cramped little bathroom and closing the door behind her, she silently thanks them for knowing her so well.

_I don’t know what I’d do without you two_ , she thinks to herself, splashing cold water onto her red blotched face and taking a few deep breaths to pull herself together.

By the time she exits the bathroom again, both boys are waiting for her, having evidently both stuffed their clothing as untidily as possible into any available storage space round their beds.

"You didn’t have to hurry for me." She says, rolling her eyes amusedly.

"There’ll be plenty of time to unpack properly later Schatz," Bren says, taking her hand to lead her towards the door.

Astrid can’t help but feel a little better when she sees Bren’s face light up at the mere sight of the library as they make their way across campus. As they enter the large oak double doors into the building, the strong musty smell of aged paper greets them, familiar and comforting. Bren closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, grinning contentedly from ear to ear.

"Never gets old." He says with a lopsided smile before setting off up the wide stairs to the higher levels. Astrid and Wulf exchange grins of their own as they follow him.

The newly gained privileges of being in the second year extend not only to smaller dorm sizes, but also to greater library access. A whole three floors more than the previous year in fact, and Astrid can tell as they climb the wide winding staircase that Bren is putting real effort into acting cool. All three of them enjoy reading to an extent, but Bren is most passionate about it by far.

When they push open the brass-bound double doors into the first new level, Astrid makes sure to keep half an eye on Bren while taking in the array of floor to ceiling shelves, and isn’t disappointed. His eyes light up as they take in the vast space full of neatly stored manuscripts, scrolls, books and parchments, the sheer joy on his face making Astrid beam with pride and love for him.

They spend a good few hours rifling through various sections, considering the branch of magic they'd each like to explore most, pouring over spell books, reports on components and somatics and anything else they grab on a whim.

With the sun slanting through the lead-lined windows indicating late afternoon and each having chosen a book, they head first to the clerk's desk near the doors to sign them out before making their way back down the wide stone staircase. Bren still frowns in consideration as if unsure of his choice. Astrid smiles up at him, nudging him to distract him from his melancholy, making him grin in return.

By the time they reach the accommodation block, Astrid's good mood has slipped, reluctant at the prospect of seeing Melinda and Renna again later. Bren puts an arm around her shoulders, as if reading her mind, and gives her a reassuring squeeze.

"You’re not thinking of going back to yours just yet are you?" Wulf asks, a hint of worry in his voice.

Astrid shakes her head, casting her eyes down to the floor in sudden embarrassment. "They told me not to come back till this evening."

"You know, the sun hits the upper windows for a fraction longer than the lower windows, which logically makes our dorm the better for reading." Bren says nonchalantly. She gives him a small smile of gratitude. Having a reason not to go back to her own dorm, however flimsy, doesn’t feel quite so much like giving into the bullies.

The rest of the afternoon and evening, broken up by a visit to the mess hall for supper, seem to pass much faster than Astrid had hoped. Eventually, with Matron patrolling the halls like a sergeant major, clanging her hand bell to loudly proclaim that all students must return to their respective dorms, Astrid reluctantly stands up from where she’d been curled up on Bren's bed beside him with a heavy sigh. To her surprise, both boys get up as well.

"I don’t need a chaperone. Fat lot of good it’ll do anyway, but I do appreciate the sentiment."

"We’re coming and that’s that." Wulf says sternly, heading to the door to open it for her. "Would you let one of us do this alone?"

"We can’t do much for you Schatz, but we can do this." Bren nods determinedly, his face grim.

With another sigh, she exits the room without arguing and heads towards her own dorm, feeling a bit silly with the pair of them trailing after her like bodyguards, but certainly less alone.

"I’ll be fine." She says to them quietly as she opens the door hesitantly, trying for a reassuring smile but missing the mark entirely in a grimace. Neither of them look convinced either. There’s a sudden loud squeak from inside the room and thumping footsteps hurrying towards the door before Mura suddenly appears in front of her.

"Astrid!" She beams, flinging her arms around her in a tight hug. Astrid has no choice but to go along with it, patting Mura's back awkwardly and looking sideways to the boys who seem just as surprised as she is. Through the open doorway she catches sight of Renna and Merinda deep in conversation but sparing sneering glances and eye rolls for the four of them. "I was catching up with my friends when you arrived this morning and by the time I got back here you were out. I couldn’t believe it when Renna and Merinda told me you were our other roommate!"

Astrid's shock fades enough for her to smile back at the enthusiastic girl, who finally releases her from the death hug and steps away. She and Mura have never been close exactly, but she’s always been kind at least. A bit full on perhaps, but right now Astrid couldn’t care less about that, with relief flooding through her that with Mura there, the other two girls are less likely to try anything terrible.

Mura's gaze flickers momentarily towards Bren and Wulf still standing bewildered in the corridor, and her smile is replaced with a haughty glare directed at the larger boy. It’s so quick Astrid barely catches it, but from Wulf's reaction he certainly does. He opens his mouth but Mura, grin restored as her attention falls back to Astrid, cuts him off before he can speak. "Come on Astrid, let’s catch up before lights out. You can tell me all about what you did this summer. I went down to the Menagerie Coast with Mother and Father, have you been there? It’s divine..."

And with that, as Mura practically drags her into the room still chatting nonstop, it’s all Astrid can do to manage a small shrug over her shoulder at the boys before the door closes on them.


	20. Tea and Feathers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s not even been a month since I updated! Result!
> 
> I got quite a few new kudos since the last chapter, so whether you’re a new reader, you’ve been along a while and decided this is Ok after all, or you were just being kind when you clicked that kudos button, thank you! It honestly really means a lot to know people are reading this thing.

"She's a whirlwind. She talked my ear off for another _two_ hours after lights out, then as soon as she woke up this morning, she was at it again! I don’t know how you ever manage to stop her talking Wulf." Astrid sighs amusedly as she catches the boys up with the events from the previous night with Mura at breakfast in the mess hall.

"Her mouth's good for lots of things I just try to keep it occupied elsewhere." Wulf smirks, but his usual mirth at making them uncomfortable by being crass is distinctly lacking.

Astrid grins, trying to hide it by taking a spoonful of porridge. "She’s not pleased with you."

Wulf tuts and rolls his eyes, sinking down further into his chair in a huff as Bren snorts a laugh.

"What did you do?" He asks.

When Wulf just shrugs, scowling at his empty breakfast bowl, Astrid feels compelled to answer on his behalf. "He didn’t write to her over the summer break."

"At all?" Bren asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Not once. And she found out about one of his other girlfriends too." She grins broadly when Wulf sticks his tongue out at her in response.

Finishing his own breakfast, Bren hisses through his teeth ruefully. "Oh dear. That’s that then I suppose. You had a good run Wulf."

Wulf grunts. "I know I was going to call things off, but I really do like her. I’m not ready for it to be over yet."

"I’ll talk to her Wulf, maybe I can convince her to see you." Astrid smiles up encouragingly at him. "If it’s any consolation, she talked about you a lot, I think she really likes you too. She wanted me to tell her everything you got up to over the summer, every little detail. You don’t do that if you're not interested in someone."

He looks at her warily. "You didn’t tell her _everything_ though, did you..?"

"I left out the bit where you got caught in bed with Berda. And, oh yes, the bit where you accidentally proposed to me. I didn’t think that would go down too well considering."

Wulf nods, breaking out in a slow grin. "Good. That’s good. Maybe I have a shot with her still after all then. If you can convince her to meet me alone, I’m sure I can find some way to convince her to give me another chance." His grin becomes sly, and Astrid can’t help but roll her eyes affectionately.

Across the table, Bren groans frustratedly. " _Do_ you like her? Because it sounds as if this has more to do with what you want than what’s best for her. I know I have fairly limited experience where romance is concerned, but even I can see you’re being an arschloch."

Wulf blinks in surprise at the unexpected outburst before frowning at him. "Thanks for the support..."

"I have your back Wulf, you know I do. I love you like a brother. But part of loving someone is telling them the truth when they need to hear it. I’m not going to stand back and let you treat Mura like scheiße under the pretence of caring for her, especially not if she seems to genuinely care about you. If you really like her, treat her with some respect, and if you can’t do that, leave her to find someone who will. You can’t just treat people badly because you’re hurting, in the end it will only make you feel worse.”

Astrid sits awkwardly between the pair of them as they trade glares in silence. Eventually, grinding his teeth audibly, Wulf turns slowly to her. "And what do you think?"

"You can’t ask me to pick a side, that’s not fair."

"I’m not, I'm asking for your thoughts on the situation. Bren's given his, now I want to hear yours." Wulf says evenly, his eyes stern.

"Well..." she begins warily. "I want you to be happy, and if that’s with her, I’ll help you to achieve it however I can. But Bren is right, you have treated her badly. You need to make up for it. And... maybe you do need to consider what’s best for her."

He nods thoughtfully, his expression softening. "Thank you. Both of you. I appreciate your honesty."

With breakfast done, the three of them head over to the main hall for second year enrolment. With five compulsory classes every student must take, science, history, numeracy, literacy and arcane theory, that leaves five slots left to tailor her learning to whatever she's most interested in pursuing, and Astrid finds that prospect rather daunting. Wulf takes it all in his stride of course, opting for a more combat magic-centric approach, and Bren being Bren he’s already planned exactly what he wants to explore this year. Undecided between transmutation and evocation as a focus, he confidently takes classes in both, as well as a few other subjects he finds interesting.

Astrid feels lost, almost as though it’s her first day all over again. She hadn’t really had Wulf or Bren back then of course, but in a way their confidence brings her indecision into sharper focus. Making her way around the various tables set up around the edge of the hall, she listens to the teachers explaining to other students what their classes will entail, hoping that will help her make up her mind. By that method, she signs up to Illusion, Politics, Symbology and Abjuration.

She’s still milling about trying to decide on her last class when Bren joins her again, slipping in easily beside her and taking her hand. Contact between them is so natural now it feels as though they’ve been together for years rather than just a few months. She still gets goosebumps when he looks at her as though she’s the only girl in the world, still shivers when he kisses her, but there’s something comfortably normal about it all too. It feels stable, and right, and she can’t imagine ever wanting it to end.

"Having trouble deciding?" He asks, reading her mind as he often seems to. She nods with a small sigh. "Think about the subjects you most enjoyed last year and how you can expand on them."

"Apart from things I’ve already chosen, I most enjoyed science I suppose. Biology mainly, but that’s not much use to a wizard."

"It’s not always about how much use something is, if you’ve exhausted all other options, the logical solution is to pick something you enjoy. Maybe your passion will uncover a use for it you didn’t expect, perhaps something no one else has thought of before." She looks up at him in amused skepticism. "Alright that’s unlikely, but it’s not impossible. You’re thinking too much. Just pick something and if you hate it or want to do something else later you can always swap in first term anyway. You have good instincts, go with your gut."

Nodding to herself she looks in turn at each of the three long lines of tables again, considering carefully, and finally deciding on medicine. Certainly a wildcard, but speaking to the professor at the desk only helps her make up her mind and finally, she finds herself signed up to her five option classes and happy with her choices, however mad some of them might seem.

"I’m proud of you Schatz." Bren says when she makes her way back over to him, pressing a kiss to her forehead. Wulf has joined him in the meantime, his attention elsewhere as he casually scans the hall. Astrid can guess who he’s looking out for, though whether to avoid her or seek her out is unclear.

"You’d be proud if I sneezed. You give me too much credit."

"Well I love you, I’m allowed." He murmurs, rubbing their noses together. Wulf simply continues to watch the rest of the hall, for once not commenting their overt display of affection.

"Ah, you three!" A clipped, unfamiliar voice calls through the crowd, making them turn in unison. It doesn’t take long to locate the speaker, a tall half elf woman short of her middle years, her dark hair scraped into an untidy bun on the top of her head and gold rimmed glasses framing shrewd bird like eyes that seem to weigh all three of them up in a glance. Her clothes are a mismatched collection of browns, green tweeds and purples, as though thrown on without much thought to appearance, only functionality, but as she strides purposefully through the milling students towards them, her beaming smile is undoubtedly friendly. Astrid doesn’t know quite what to make of her, and by the looks on the boys' faces, they don’t either. "No need to look so worried, I just wanted to introduce myself. I’ve heard a lot about you three you see."

"About us..?" Wulf stammers, clearly expecting the worst. Astrid can’t recall ever having seen the woman before, and she’s fairly sure she would have remembered, but she is clearly a member of the faculty.

"Yes. I presume you are Eodwulf, Bren and Astrid?" She looks at them all in turn, blinking patiently. They nod unsurely. "Well there we are, it is you after all. Your test scores last year were rather impressive I must say. Quite remarkable given your long list of apparent extra curricular escapades." She chuckles to herself. "Still, it’s clear my predecessor may have had some bias, and I tend not to judge someone until I know them personally."

"Your predecessor?" Astrid asks, eyes wide with confusion.

"Oh! Of course, silly me. My mother always says to me, Philomena, you'd forget your head if it weren’t screwed on tight!" She laughs to herself again, not a bit abashed. "I’m professor Philomena Bashere. I’m your new head of year."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance Professor Bashere." Bren says smoothly, making a good effort to overcome his bewilderment, even inclining his head briefly towards her. Astrid and Wulf quickly follow suit, not wanting to seem impolite.

Professor Bashere waves them off with a smile. "Enough of all that formality. I expect you to do as I ask, work hard and follow the rules, but you’re my students, not my subjects. I’ve never been one for bowing and scraping. Teaching shouldn’t be a power trip, and if it is, you’re in the job for the wrong reasons, wouldn’t you say?" The three of them nod emphatically. After suffering Starek for a whole year, Professor Bashere seems almost too good to be true. "Well, I’ll let you be about your day now, but it was good to put faces to your names. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow for full year assembly in the Alfwin Hall."

And just like that, she turns on her heel and strides away, quickly collaring another group of students to talk to.

"That was... wow." Wulf says, letting out a deep breath.

"Ja... At least she seems nicer than Starek." Bren shrugs, giving himself a little shake. "So, what shall we do now? Classes don’t start till tomorrow so we have the afternoon free."

"Actually, I have an errand to run in the city." Astrid swallows hard, then curses herself for allowing her nerves to show. "I’ll meet you both back at the dorm though, in an hour or so maybe?"

The boys both shrug, and they start to head out of the hall together. Bren looks questioningly at her but doesn’t push for an answer. She’s glad of that, her cheeks heating with just the mere thought of where she’s headed to, let alone discussing it with him.

She leaves them at the accommodation building and continues on to the west gate. Guarded only to stop anyone unauthorised from entering the school grounds during the day, she passes through without any of the very bored looking crownsguards giving her a second look, but her cheeks feel aflame anyway, as though every one of the half a dozen or so men and women standing distractedly at their posts know exactly what she’s heading into the city for.

The Shimmer Ward lives up to its name in the mid-morning sunshine, though the sun itself is not quite risen above the tall tower tops of the Candles behind her yet, so that the buildings in their shadows seem all the more gloomy compared to their counterparts in full sun. With only a few sprawling tile-roofed mansions and villas between the Academy and the westernmost of the six gates of the inner city wall, she’s quickly out into the heaving rabbit warren streets of the Tangles.

Skirting the edge of the Platinum Veranda's opulent dwellings and luxury emporiums, she heads further west towards the Court of Colours. Here the streets are a bustling hubbub of activity, winding and varying in width, some wide enough to support four wagons abreast easily while others are a squeeze even for a sedan chair with pedestrians on either side, intersections criss-crossing to make small roughly square blocks interspersed with a maze of tiny alleyways and passages inbetween. She supposes with a birds eye view it might look vaguely neat, but down here, crowded on all sides between the mostly four or five storey buildings, it seems absolute chaos.

The closer she gets to the main plaza of the Court of Colours, the louder and more raucous the streets seem to become, and the more the shops, trading posts and inns seem to outnumber the houses. Richly dressed merchants from every corner of the Empire and the Menagerie Coast strut surrounded by their plain armoured guards, some in lacquered coaches with their sigils painted on the doors, some lounging in sedan chairs with their bearers trotting along barely seeming to feel the effort despite the growing heat. Shop keepers call to the passing crowds, advertising their wares in a constant shouting competition with their neighbours, a few with their own guards outside, strong arms and street toughs who look to have been in more than a few brawls keeping a watchful eye on the stock of gold merchants and jewellers. Street hawkers step quickly through the throng with their trays of small goods, hoping to ply passing trade, and on a few street corners small groups of musicians, acrobats and jugglers perform for tips.

Astrid loses her way a few times in the clamour, but eventually finds what she’s looking for, a narrow cobbled lane called Blue Carp Street, and halfway down it the apothecary Mura had recommended to her the night before, the Resplendent Remedy. Pushing open the nondescript wooden door, Astrid hopes the shopkeeper makes a better job of mixing herbs than they did coming up with a name for their shop.

Her eyes adjust quickly to the dim interior after the well shaded lane outside, finding shelves packed floor to rafters with all kinds of bottles, jars, boxes and packets, broken up only by a short, polished wooden counter top standing towards the left before the rear wall. A large black oak table occupies the centre of the space, stacked neatly with what could only be called curiosities, stuffed animals in odd poses, small boxes in all manner of shapes and styles, statues, goblets, bones...

"Can I help you?" A reedy voice asks, making Astrid jump. It takes her a moment to locate the source of the voice, a small Halfling woman, gnarled and heavily wrinkled, half bent over on the wooden ladder she’s painstakingly descending, her hair completely white and obviously extremely old. Astrid swallows hard.

"Ah, guten tag... good day Frau." She says when the woman finally reaches the floor, wincing at the Zemnian that automatically rolls off her tongue, feeling foolish. "I’m looking for... I was told this was a good place for... uh..."

The old woman stands in front of her patiently, looking up at her with intent beady eyes. "Yes...?"

Astrid thinks she might just die of embarrassment. "Tea. For... tea that um... to prevent..."

The old woman breaks into sudden laughter that warms her face considerably, and begins to shuffle towards the counter. "You youngsters. You think you invented sex. I have fifteen grandchildren, fifteen! And five children of my own. You think they magically appeared from thin air?" The woman chuckles again and Astrid, following behind, can’t help but laugh herself in relief.

"No I suppose not."

"I’m Mistress Hilltop. What’s your name child?" The halfling asks as she steps up on a wooden crate behind the counter, reaching into a glass cabinet with a sliding door that squeaks in protest when she opens it. For a second Astrid considers making something up to remain anonymous, but she has a feeling the old woman will see right through her.

"Astrid." She answers, trying not to shuffle.

"And how old are you Astrid?"

"Seventeen." The woman nods, placing a wooden canister onto the counter top and beginning to spoon out ground up leaves with a reddish tinge to them into a small brown paper bag.

"Well, it matters none to me what your plans are that mean you need these, but just you make sure your man deserves you. And if you discover that he doesn’t, you send him here and I’ll crack him in the shins till he weeps." She grins fiercely, nodding towards a crooked walking stick propped up against the wall to the side of the counter.

"I don’t think he’ll need that but thank you anyway." Astrid laughs, taking the bag the woman holds out to her and giving her the five copper pieces she requests in return.

"That’s what they all say my dear. One level spoon per brew should see you right, and make sure to drink it within twelve hours of intercourse." Astrid flushes bright red at the word, and the old woman shakes her head in amusement.

Walking back through the crowded streets, Astrid clutches the bag close, trying to look inconspicuous but knowing she’s failing. Her cheeks feel aflame the whole way to the gates of the Shimmer Ward, and it seems like everyone who even glances her way knows exactly what is in the plain brown paper bag, though she knows that’s ridiculous.

The guards on the gate stand lazily to attention, only paying half a mind to those going through, a slow stream of well dressed people, small gaggles of gawping new first year students, sedan chairs and carriages. She’s barely ever seen them stop anyone, and even then it’s only been roughly dressed individuals who look as though they’ve come straight from the Mudtop Ward, but she can’t stop the niggling, irrational fear that they’re going to stop her and demand to know exactly what's in the bag.

_Nonsense_ , she thinks to herself, squaring her shoulders and digging deep to find some confidence. _I’m a young woman, old enough by more than a year to be having sex..._ her cheeks heat again at even just thinking the word _...and being embarrassed about it is ridiculous._ Still, when she reaches the school gates, she can’t help but worry again that they’re going to stop her. 

When she finally reaches the safety of her dorm, finding it mercifully empty, she’s glad to hide the small bag in the back of her bedside drawer for whenever she might need it, and heads upstairs to find the boys again.

"Finished your errands in town?" Bren asks distractedly as she snuggles against his chest. Reclining lazily on his bed reading one of the books they borrowed from the library the previous day, he slips an arm around her shoulders, not taking his eyes from the page.

"Where did you go?" Wulf asks from the floor, breathing hard and drenched in sweat counting under his breath as he continues the press ups she found him doing on entering the room.

"Nowhere important." She shrugs, hoping he’ll leave it there. He looks up at her, quirking an eyebrow, but doesn’t ask her to elaborate. "Why are you exercising yourself to death?"

"I’m keeping in shape, you two should try it some time." Astrid reaches over to his bed to grab a pillow and launches it at him. It bounces harmlessly off his head and he grins at her.

"He’s thinking. It’s a thing he does occasionally." Bren says dryly, still not looking up from his book.

Rising to his feet, Wulf stretches out his shoulders and cricks his neck. "Should I go and find her do you think?"

"Who?" Bren mumbles.

Astrid tuts, nudging him in the ribs. "Mura, obviously." He grunts disinterestedly. "Maybe leave it a bit longer Wulf. We start classes tomorrow, concentrate on that instead. What did you sign up for this morning, I didn’t ask earlier."

"Anything remotely related to combat magic of course." He grins, seemingly distracted already, though Astrid knows better. "I have introduction classes for abjuration and evocation tomorrow. Bren said you each took one of those so that’s something."

"It’s going to be strange being in so many classes without you both." She muses, playing idly with a lock of her shoulder length hair. "I suppose we’ll have more to talk about now at least."

Wulf smiles, sitting on his bed opposite. "Always looking on the bright side aren’t you."

"Better than moping." She grins. Without warning, Wulf stealthily bends to retrieve his pillow from where she’d hit him with it and throws it at Astrid's head. Laughing, she grabs it just as it impacts her face, tossing it back one handedly. He catches it easily and immediately moves to start hitting her and Bren with it relentlessly, sending her into a fit of giggles. Bren moans half heartedly about losing his place in the book while trying to fish his own pillow out from behind his back to retaliate.

It isn’t until later, while she’s helping the boys to clean up the mass of feathers scattered around the dorm room from the pillows, that Astrid realises that despite the threat still hanging over her from Renna and Merinda, she’s truly excited again at the prospect of another year at the Academy. That for moments like these, she’ll gladly weather any storm coming her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That Exandria book is so incredibly useful for chapters like this.


	21. Close Encounters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually managed to write almost all of this in one day! I blame episode 110 which just aired. Wow, is all I’ll say...
> 
> Once again I must sing the praises of the Exandria Campaign Book, it’s my go to for accurate little details and I love it.
> 
> Some dodgy German and some Exandrian terms too:  
> Miresen - Exandrian Monday  
> Grissen - Exandrian Tuesday  
> Whelsen - Exandrian Wednesday  
> Halt - Stop  
> Nein - Only kidding, you know that one...  
> Meine leibe - My love  
> Urkomischer - Hilarious  
> Fessuran - An Exandrian autumn month.  
> Guten Morgan - Good morning

The first few weeks of term are as intense as Astrid expected them to be, with so many new classrooms and teachers, not to mention five extra subjects compared with first year. It seems to her that for the first few days she spends most of her time getting lost in the vast labyrinth of corridors and classrooms in the main Academy building. To ease them in gently, first year classes had almost all been on the same level in the east wing. Now they're all over the place, with some classes back to back on opposite sides of the vast building, meaning they have to run or risk being late, something not taken kindly by most of the professors.

Thrown straight in at the deep end, but mercifully together at least, their first class bright and early on a Miresen morning is two hours of history. Astrid and Wulf, along with the rest of the initially enthusiastic class, soon find themselves bored to tears and struggling to stay awake. Bren, of course, laps up every single detail and never loses focus. The two hours of Arcane theory at the end of the day are no better, and this time a number of students really do fall asleep, one being Ferdinard. Astrid watches with no small measure of delight as they’re woken one by one with a sharp smack on the back of the head. Professor Ghenji is clearly not one for mercy, she notes.

Their speciality classes are no less intense but at least more engaging. Of the five subjects she chose, Eodwulf and Bren share three of them, and she’s certainly glad for the companionship. She feels their absence especially keenly during Symbology, not least because Ferdinard, Merinda and Renna take it too, as well as many of their hangers on. She’s well used to being ostracised, that she takes in her stride now, but the giggling, sneers and increasing volume of low level magical attacks are a problem. Nothing that would hurt her or get them noticed by their professor, Astrid knows they wouldn’t dare risk that, but it’s distracting and demeaning nonetheless.

Medicine class turns out to be a welcome respite. It’s a small class, not popular with many of the Academy's rich kids as they feel the subject is beneath them, and despite initially choosing it as a filler class for her seemingly pointless interest in biology, Astrid enjoys it even more than she thought she would. Many of the other students seem to have taken it as filler too, using it as an opportunity to doze, much to the quiet disgruntlement of Professor Krüger, a flustered but unarguably knowledgable human man in his latter years.

He looks about as dusty as the classroom itself, both exuding an air of having been largely forgotten about. The Grissen afternoon sunshine slanting through the tiny high windows of the basement level classroom catches motes of shimmering dust in the broken beams of light, but Astrid hardly notices that when he starts talking. She’s quickly captivated, soaking in every scrap of information she can, asking questions, taking endless notes. She smiles to herself as she leaves the class for the first time, realising she must have looked like Bren every time he enters the library.

With Mura sharing the dorm, things with Renna and Merinda at least haven’t been as bad as Astrid had feared they might be. She spends as little time as possible in the room still though, leaving first thing on the morning and not returning till almost lights out every night. Still, the two girls manage to find ways to assert their authority when they can, pulling small pranks and using spells to harass her at every opportunity.

Before she knows it they’ve been back a full month and a half, and it feels as though they never left at all, as though summer was just a dream. Her mother writes a few times, short letters clearly geared more towards information gathering than giving affection and barely even mentioning school, focussing instead on what connections she’s made and giving unsolicited advice on how to flirt with the upper classes. All pretty mortifying reading, but the boys seem to find them hilarious at least.

Summer quickly turns to autumn, the trees beginning to shed their leaves and the temperature dropping quite suddenly, as the nights draw in and the weather turns murky, wet and windy. In Blumenthal, Harvest's Close, or Ernte Ende as it’s known more commonly there, is celebrated vigorously with days of communal feasting and festivals. In the city however, it’s a much more sedate affair, marked by a weekend carnival held in the Court of Colours in the Tangles. Despite all three of them having essays to hand in on Miresen morning, Wulf insists that they go for at least a few hours one evening, and although they have to spend the rest of the night huddled in the kitchens finishing their work without sleep, they all agree the dancing and drinking was well worth it.

With so many extra classes and an increased expectation for hard work, study periods become just that for the most part. The three of them quickly work out a routine, meeting in old classrooms, the library, or long forgotten corners, avoiding the dorms during the day for chance of bumping into people they’d rather avoid.

It’s during one of these study sessions that Astrid finds herself missing the comparatively empty schedule of first year. Halfway through writing a thoroughly mind numbing essay on the symbological importance of rune sequences within transformative spells and rituals, she makes the mistake of looking over at Bren, sat just across from her on the floor. It’s a gloomy Whelsen morning, clouds roiling in the sky threatening cold autumn rain and a strong breeze rattling the window panes of the abandoned classroom they’re studying in.

Usually it would be all three of them here, but today Wulf muttered something about having to be somewhere else and dashed straight off after abjuration class, so it’s just her and Bren. And Astrid is painfully aware of it. He’s none the wiser of course, completely absorbed in his book of transmutation theory, but the sun appears briefly from between the clouds and sets his dark flame coloured hair alight, and she knows she’s not going to be able to concentrate on her essay any longer.

With a wicked smirk, she knocks the book from his hands with her foot and pounces on him. He makes a startled noise, cut off into a muffled grunt as her mouth finds his. He manages to catch himself from falling back, hands braced behind him on the floor, and she takes the opportunity to deepen the kiss, finding him as willing as she thought he’d be despite the exasperated sigh he exhales through his nose.

"Astrid..." he mumbles against her lips when she draws back an inch for air. She kisses him again before he has a chance to speak any sense about why they don’t have time to be doing this. He sighs again, this time clearly in defeat, his hands finally moving to her back to pull her closer.

When the ten o' clock bell rings, signifying half their study period gone, they draw apart both thoroughly out of breath. "I can’t believe you kicked my book. That is not acceptable behaviour Schatz." Bren tuts, glancing over to the tome now lying closed on the floor a few feet away.

"I want you to know, I’m not remotely sorry." She grins at him, leaning back to stretch, still straddling his thighs. She lets out a choked gasp, folding forward as he tickles her sides. "Halt! Nein, halt... stop it you idiot!" She giggles, grabbing at his shoulders. Laughing, he stops after a moment, kissing her cheek brandishing a grin of his own. She feels a scratch of stubble against her skin, taking his chin in her fingers to inspect it when he moves back.

He grimaces. "I know. I was trying it out but it looks ridiculous. And it’s itchy. I’ll shave it tonight if I have time."

"I kind of like it." She shrugs, releasing his chin. "It’s not very you though. You’re so... neat usually."

"Perhaps I’ll grow a beard one day and surprise you." He smirks. She laughs at that mental image, kissing him again, this time slow and deep, savouring the light scratch of the tiny hairs he seems unlikely to sport again any time soon. _A shame,_ she thinks to herself. His hips start to involuntarily roll under her, the hands at her waist gently urging her to move as well. She happily obliges and he moans into her mouth as she shifts her hips forward slightly, to where she knows he wants the pressure, wishing they had more time. They never seem to have enough time alone at the moment.

Reluctantly, she shuffles back slightly after a minute, knowing they won’t be able to finish what they’ve started. He groans, letting his hands drop to the floor and leaning back on his elbows. Suddenly, she's reminded of the little bag of tea leaves sitting in the back of her bedside drawer.

"What is it?" He asks, tilting his head quizzically as she feels herself blush furiously.

"Well... not that it really helps our situation all that much. Or maybe it does..." she laughs nervously, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. "But I... I got hold of some of that tea we needed..."

"Tea?" He frowns confusedly, before his eyes widen in realisation and he sits up straight. "Oh. _That_ tea." She nods, smiling as he swallows hard. "You really are ready..."

"Why, are you not any more?"

"Yes! Oh, yes." He laughs nervously. "So ready meine leibe..." his fingers brush her cheek affectionately, making her blush all over again. "But not here like this. We’ll work something out."

A new wave of heat washes over her with that thought, and she scrambles to her feet before she can fall back into kissing him again. "I need to run back to my dorm and get a sweater, it’s colder than I thought today and I have Illusion class next. I don’t know what it is about that classroom but it’s always freezing in there."

"I’ll walk with you. I have Quantum Mechanics next period so it’s on the way." Bren says as he gets to his feet too, retrieving his abandoned book and slipping his cloak on.

"I will never understand how you can study that. It’s so boring."

"Is not. It’s how the world works, it’s fascinating." He says indignantly opening the door for her and holding it as she walks through.

"Danke. You know I enjoy the sciences Bren but it’s so... bland." The corridor is empty, and with none of the six classrooms on this level of the north wing in regular use, it’s a perfect place to study without risk of being found and harassed by Ferdinard's clique.

"It’s vital to understanding the physical forces involved in spell casting. To interpreting how spells actually manipulate matter, how they can alter the atomic structure even of the object or being they’re focussed on..." he raises an eyebrow as she makes snoring sounds. "Ha ha. Urkomischer Schatz. Next time you talk to me about your Medicine classes, I’ll know what to do."

"You love hearing about them and you know it." She laughs, taking his hand as they reach the stairs and begin to descend. "And I love that you love it, and that you love learning how our world works."

"I do." He grins lopsidedly. "Oh, I remembered I wanted to tell you something. Guess who caught me in the corridor yesterday on my way to Politics class?"

"King Dwendal?" She jokes, jumping the bottom few steps. Bren snorts.

"Almost. Zivan Margolin."

Astrid looks at him incredulously. "Zivan Margolin? The headmaster?" He nods, grinning. "What for? You’re not in trouble?"

"What would I be in trouble for?" He scoffs. "I never break the rules." She laughs as he winks at her. They reach the foyer, and this time she holds the door open for him. "Danke."

Shivering when the cool Fessuran wind hits her, Bren wraps an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. "What did he want with you then?"

"Nothing. Well, nothing obvious anyway. He asked me how my studies were going, if I was enjoying my time here, just general stuff really. But he knew my name."

"Why on earth would he know your name? I mean, not that you aren’t brilliant or anything, but he’s _Zivan Margolin_."

"I know, it was very odd. He just asked a few questions about my studies and left. It didn’t seem important at the time but I’ve been thinking about it and now I’m not so sure. He hasn’t spoken to you then I take it?"

"Of course not, why would he talk to me?" She laughs.

"Well why would he talk to me." He says, poking her in the side.

"Good point. How did you forget to tell me something like that anyway?"

He shrugs, bending to kiss the top of her head. "You’re very distracting Schatz."

She snuggles closer into him, hoping he won’t see her fresh blush. "Smooth Ermendrud, smooth."

They reach the dorms in plenty of time, and with no rush to get to his next class, Bren follows her up the stairs to her room to maximise the time they have together instead of leaving straight away.

"I’ll just grab my sweater," she says, reaching for the door handle, "and then we should have some time still to go sit in one of the gardens for a few minutes before going to our..." walking in, she stops dead at the sight of a very naked Wulf on Mura's bed with a very naked Mura beneath him. She squeaks, turning around to face away so fast she nearly falls over.

"Ah... hello." Bren says awkwardly, ducking back behind the door with a smirk.

"Hi!" Mura giggles. Astrid hears Wulf snort amusedly, and mutter something under his breath to her which sends her into more giggles.

"Not that I’m not really glad you two are obviously back together and all but... here, now... really?" Astrid says, aware her tone is perilously close to whining.

"When the need takes you." Wulf chuckles, and Astrid thinks that maybe after this she’ll never feel aroused again... "Really though, do you think you could maybe leave so we can... finish?" Mura giggles again and Astrid all but launches herself towards Bren and the doorway, fumbling the door closed without a moment's hesitation.

"Well..." Bren laughs. "That’s certainly nightmare fuel I didn’t need."

"We are never, _ever_ doing that. Not there, anyway. Like that. Anyone could walk in. Anyone _did_!" Bren chuckles, tucking his arm around her again. As they walk away, an audible rhythmic _thud, thud, thud_ starts up, followed by a loud keening moan that sets Astrid's teeth on edge. Even Bren grimaces then.

As they round the corner to the stairwell, a loud brisk tapping on the wooden boards below alerts them to Matron's presence, rapidly approaching and apparently on a mission. Bren and Astrid look at each other in horror and rush down the stairs together.

"Ah, guten morgan Matron... how are you today?" Bren stutters when they find her on the short landing between levels, stopping beside each other an inadvertently blocking her path.

"Very well thank you Master Bren." She replies suspiciously, looking at them both in turn. "Busy, if you would excuse me, I’m sure I just heard a noise upstairs that warrants investigation..." she moves forward, clearly wanting them to move out of the way, but they hold their ground, both tensing.

"It was me! I tripped and stubbed my toe." Astrid smiles, hoping she sounds believable. Matron looks at her skeptically. She moves as if to leave again and Bren jumps in.

"Matron, I’ve been meaning to ask, I wondered if you could help me." Matron sighs impatiently but stops again, folding her arms.

"Well?" She prompts, tapping her foot.

"Uh... I... have a rash." He shoots Astrid a desperate look. "On my... uh... my behind..." Matron arches an eyebrow.

"That sounds private, I’ll uh, leave you to it. I forgot, I left a book in my room." She laughs nervously. "I’ll see you in class Bren. Goodbye Matron." She starts off up the stairs without waiting for a reply, trying not to look as though she’s rushing despite wanting to run. Behind her she hears Matron ask Bren to hurry up and show her this rash, and Astrid suddenly regrets not staying...

As soon as she hits the top step she does break into a run, though she soon finds there’s no need as Wulf comes sauntering out of the dorm looking thoroughly disheveled and very pleased with himself, cloak slung over his shoulder and tie hanging undone around his neck. "Sorry about that. We'd have left a sock on the door handle if we could be it’s kind of a red flag if Matron happens to be walking past..."

"Yea about that." she says hurriedly, taking his arm without stopping and turning him to start leading him along the corridor in the opposite direction to the stairs. "She heard you and she’s coming up here to investigate. Bren's probably showing her his arse right this second to stall her so we’d better be quick. She already wasn’t convinced, and if she sees you she’s going to know exactly what you’ve been doing."

"His arse..?"

Astrid snorts a laugh. "I’ll tell you later, let’s just get out of here."

They make their way to the other end of the building, to the service stairs they’d previously used to sneak out at night. Tiptoeing down them, as though Matron could have beaten them there, they hurry out of the little door there and into the courtyard gardens, through a snug alley and out to the back of the building. Peering cautiously around the wall at the main entrance, they don’t have to wait long before Bren appears, hands thrust deep into his pockets and shoulders slouched. His route back towards the main Academy building takes him right past them, and they fall in beside him.

"So, what happened?" Astrid asks, looking up at him.

He grunts and gives a little shiver. "You and me," he says eventually, looking at Wulf, "what you did helping us avoid her mother on Hochsommer? We’re even now."

Wulf nods consideringly. "Seems fair. Perhaps Mura and I can do the same for you one day." He grins at them. Astrid and Bren glance at each other, both flushing red, and somehow they manage to get to their next class without looking at each other once.


	22. What Friends Are For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry this has taken so long. Real life got hectic, I had to get another fic out of my head, and I’ve been preparing for NaNoWriMo. But I finally got my bum into gear and finished this chapter!
> 
> Bad translations:  
> Viel besser - much better  
> Prost - cheers  
> Kleine - little

Shrugging into her coat and bending to put on her shoes, Astrid isn’t even surprised when the glass of water from her bedside table suddenly flies towards her, blocking it deftly with her arm. It drops to the floor with a clatter, rolling harmlessly under the bed as Merinda and Renna laugh. Mura eyes her sympathetically from the bed opposite, continuing to get dressed in silence. Astrid understands - she wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of the other girls either, if she had the choice.

"How clumsy of you Astrid." Renna giggles. "With reflexes like that you’ll never be even a half decent caster." They’re still tittering as they grab their satchels and leave the room. Astrid screws her face up at them as soon as they're safely out the door.

"Sorry." Mura says, leaning across the bed to hand Astrid a handkerchief. She accepts it gratefully and begins to blot at the damp patches on her coat and skirt. Could have been worse, she thinks to herself, trying to be positive. She’s finding that harder and harder recently, as the attacks have grown in both frequency and severity.

"It’s ok." She says, smiling. "They wouldn’t stop if you said something anyway, they’d just go after you too. No need for us both to suffer."

"I know but still... they’re way out of line. I hate seeing them bully you. I was thinking, maybe I could do something to help make it up to you." Astrid glances at her. It's been almost a week since the... _incident_ with her and Wulf, but still Astrid struggles to look at Mura without blushing. It’s not as though she isn't used to seeing her and her other two roommates in various states of undress, they share a dorm after all, it's par for the course. But there’s naked and then there’s... _that_.

"You really don’t need to do anything Mura." She says, trying not to sound uncomfortable. "I’m not upset with you."

"I know, it’s not just that. You helped me and Wulfy before, I think it’s time we helped you and Bren out too." Mura grins slyly. Astrid pauses in drying her clothes to stare at the other girl.

"Help us out...?"

"Yes, you know, with some alone time." Mura grins. Astrid blinks, snapping her mouth shut when she realises it’s hanging open. "To have sex." Mura adds amusedly, as if it hadn’t been entirely clear what she meant already.

"I... don’t know what to say..." Astrid stutters, hanging the handkerchief over the bed frame to dry. "What... what exactly are you planning to do to achieve that?"

"Well," Mura claps her hands together eagerly, "I talked to Wulfy, and the plan is to distract..."

"You talked to Wulf about this already?" Astrid interrupts, staring at her incredulously.

"Well of course." Mura giggles. "It was his plan really, once I got the ball rolling. He’s very good at this stuff you know. So, anyway, like I was saying, I'll distract Renna and Merinda to make sure they stay away from here for a while, meanwhile, Wulfy will deal with Matron, and you two can get down to it in peace. Perfect huh!?"

Astrid feels her jaw drop again and let’s it hang open this time. "I don’t... know what to say..." she murmurs when she can finally speak.

"It’s ok, like I said, we're just returning the favour. Wulfy said you two had been thinking about doing it for a while now so I figured it was perfect timing!"

"Oh he did, did he..." Astrid says between gritted teeth, turning to grab her satchel in an effort to hide flushed cheeks that are equal parts embarrassment and annoyance. Bloody Wulf... bloody Bren!

"Don’t be mad at him." Mura smiles knowingly. "He really cares about you both. It can be so difficult to find even just a few minutes alone in this place, you don’t want that for your first time together. It doesn’t matter how ready you are, it’s always scary. The last thing you want is to be scared about being discovered too."

Astrid can’t argue with that, so she forces herself to smile back. Mura really does mean well, after all. "Thank you Mura. I do appreciate it."

Mura's answering grin is enthusiastic to say the least. "Excellent, we were thinking this weekend!"

"This weekend! You’ve planned it already?" Astrid squeaks, following the other girl out into the corridor.

"There you are, we were about to send in a search party." Wulf stands up from where he stood lounging against the doorframe, looking confused when Astrid flashes a glare at him as she passes by. Mura quickly distracts him by launching herself at him, the pair kissing as though they haven’t seen each other in weeks instead of barely ten hours ago.

Bren presses a kiss to her cheek, and with barely a glance back at the others, she grabs his hand and hurriedly leads him off down the corridor, leaving Wulf and Mura to it.

"You told Wulf we were thinking about... about having..." blushing furiously she mouths the word sex, immediately feeling ridiculous for not being able to say it out loud.

"Was I not meant to?" He asks worriedly.

Astrid sighs. "I suppose we never discussed keeping it to ourselves. But he told Mura, and now they’ve cooked up some plan to give us an opportunity to have the dorm to ourselves."

"Oh..." He says glancing back at them, turning away again with a grimace at the overt public display of affection. "Is that a bad thing?"

"For this weekend Bren."

He cocks an eyebrow at her, and then it’s his turn to blush. "Oh."

She sighs, sweeping a hand through her hair in exasperation. "It’s not a bad thing exactly. It’s nice of them to offer, and I really did mean it when I said I was ready, I just... it’s all a bit sudden. It should be our choice, it shouldn’t be a rush like this."

"We’ll just tell them no then." He shrugs casually.

Astrid worries her bottom lip with her teeth, pausing for a moment to think. "Though... it would be a shame to waste the opportunity, since we’ve wanted it for so long..." Bren smiles affectionately and puts an arm around her waist to hold her closer as they descend the stairs. "I’ll think about it..." She says finally when they reach the bottom.

"There’s no pressure Schatz. Not from me and not from them. This decision is all yours."

"That’s not as comforting as you think it is..." she mumbles with a sigh.

Concentrating in class is a challenge after that, and Astrid finds her thoughts drifting more than once. She barely takes in anything in History, snapping harshly back to reality when Professor Irellin, foot tapping and arms crossed in irritation, has to repeat a question regarding the early days of the monarchy. She stutters an answer that seems to satisfy the scowling professor, but only because her Father's strong sense of Zemnian pride had him reading his dull tomes on the history of the Empire to her at bedtime as a child, much to her despair at the time. She silently thanks him now, however.

After History, she and Wulf have to make a dash across campus to get to Illusion class on time, which thankfully leaves little time to talk on the way. From his smirk though, she can gather Mura told him all about their little conversation in the dorm earlier, and she feels her cheeks heating all over again.

Even sitting next to him she manages to ignore him for most of the class, though he periodically tries to get her attention by nudging her arm. She knows she’s being silly sulking with him, he doesn’t really deserve the silent treatment, but giving in now would be admitting it and that would dent her pride. So she turns away from him as best she can and gives her full attention to Professor De'Lune, Wulf finally giving up with a frustrated growl.

When the class ends, they gather up their things in silence, the pair making it all the way to the door and the corridor outside before Wulf finally cracks.

"When are you finally going to give in and talk to me again? This is ridiculous Astrid."

"It’s been barely a few hours." She snorts, still not looking at him as they continue on towards the brass bound double doors at the end of the corridor.

"It’s been three and a half. Why are you even angry?" His tone is close to whining and she decides he’s suffered enough.

"I’m not angry." She sighs, glancing up at him. "I just wish you hadn’t told Mura about mine and Bren's situation. I wish Bren hadn’t told you either I suppose..."

He frowns in confusion. "You mean, that the two of you haven’t had sex yet?"

"Shh!" She hisses, looking around to make sure no one is close enough to overhear. Luckily, the rest of their classmates have gone in the opposite direction towards the common room where most of them congregate for the free period after this class. "Yes, that. I’d rather it wasn’t broadcast all over the place. It’s private."

He looks at her as if she’s grown a second head. "Astrid, we're at boarding school. There’s no such thing as private. Everyone already knows about you and Bren."

She misses a step and almost trips, stopping to look up at him wide eyed and feeling a new flush hit her cheeks. "What? How!?"

He shrugs stopping alongside her. "The same way they know everything. Gossip. You can't keep anything quiet around here for long, how do you not know that already?"

"Great." She sulks, setting off again in a huff. She throws open the large oak doors, letting them swing back against the wrought iron stops on either side with a ringing crash. Stalking through, she huddles down into her coat, holding her cloak closed against the cold autumn wind that whips around them. Wulf hangs back to close the doors before catching up. "So everyone probably thinks I’m frigid as well as some loser from nowhere."

"No one thinks that." He answers just a little too quickly. She makes a disbelieving noise in her throat, looking up at him with a scowl. "Ok," he grimaces, "I have heard a few people saying that... But who cares what they think? Like you said, it’s between you and Bren."

"Because it’s more pressure! It was bad enough feeling like we should because I know he’s been ready for a while, and then knowing you knew, and Mura too, and you’d planned this bloody alone time for us!" She rants, throwing her hands up in the air. A gust of wind seizes her cloak, sending it billowing out behind her. She snatches it back with an irritated grunt. "But now it turns out the whole school is expecting me to do it as well!"

"Astrid... stop." Wulf hastens his step to get in front of her, placing his hands on the tops of her arms to stop her. "Just breathe... There is no pressure. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, and I promise you, me, and Mura, and certainly Bren, don’t want to make you do anything you’re not ready for. I’m sorry you felt as though we were pushing you into something, I’ll tell Mura the plan's off and we’ll forget all about it."

Astrid bites her lip and frowns, looking down at the path in consideration. “I mean... it would be a shame to waste the opportunity, since we’ve been waiting for it for so long...”

Wulf rolls his eyes exasperatedly. "Girls..."

She glares up at him, about to let him have it with both barrels, when she notices someone watching them further up the path. "Wulf, that’s Zivan Margolin."

The Headmaster, posture rigid and hands neatly folded behind his back, simply continues to look at them as a startled Wulf turns around to stare. He seems not to care that they’ve noticed him. Astrid swallows, the goosebumps forming on her skin having little to do with the cool breeze that picks up momentarily, swirling withered fallen leaves around her feet. His eyes are so hard and cold, even at this distance it feels as though they’re boring into her.

A few agonisingly long seconds pass, and just as she’s wondering if he’s waiting for some sort of response from them, he simply gives them both a deep nod, and walks away along an adjoining path. His long dark cloak barely seems to stir despite the wind, only adding to the strangeness of the encounter. Astrid gives herself a shake and takes a breath, watching him stride away until he disappears from view around the corner of the library building.

"That was weird." Wulf mutters beside her, looking just as rattled as she feels.

"Ja." Astrid takes his arm and the pair start walking again. "Did Bren tell you he spoke to him last week?"

"He did. I’m glad he gave us the silent treatment, that was creepy enough without having to talk to him too."

Astrid nods, frowning as they pass the path they watched the Headmaster walk down. "It was wasn’t it. Such cold eyes..." she gives herself another shake, quickening her step. "We’d better hurry, we haven’t got long till lunch and if we’re not back by then Bren's going to know what we’ve been up to."

Wulf snorts amusedly. "He’s going to know anyway Astrid. We’re hardly going to forget his birthday are we."

"I know that, but still. It’s the principle. Just because he’s expecting us to do something for him doesn’t mean we should be obvious about it." Wulf just shrugs, plainly missing the point. "Besides, I know what you’re like. It’s a bakery. You’re bound to get distracted while we pick up the cake and end up taking your time choosing a load of pastries to stuff after lights out."

He looks down at her indignantly, but pointedly doesn’t deny it. She laughs, bumping her shoulder against his arm playfully as they head towards the South Gate, their encounter with the Headmaster all but forgotten already.

***************************  
  


With a free half hour study period at the end of the next day, Astrid just has time to collect the cake and gifts stashed in her dorm and sneak them into the library ready for the boys to arrive. Weaving her way through the floor-to-ceiling shelves stacked full of books, she makes it to her usual quiet little corner without being seen by the few library attendants, the cosy little nook beside the medical texts tucked well out of the way of the main walkways and about as secluded as it’s possible to get in the vast rabbit warren of aisles.

She doesn’t have to wait long before the boys appear from behind a nearby shelf stack, coming to sit with her on the floor, using their loosely bundled cloaks as cushions.

"You didn’t have to do all this, I’d have been happy enough just staying in the dorm with you both." Bren smiles shyly.

Wulf leans over to ruffle his hair. "It’s not like you to be bashful. Don’t be a dork, of course we were going to make a fuss, we spend every night in the dorm, birthdays are a perfect excuse for something different." He slips a flask from his pocket, handing it to Bren with a smirk.

"Not more brandy?" He asks warily, taking an experimental swig before Wulf can answer. "Ah. Whiskey. Viel besser. Prost." He grins, taking a much deeper drink and passing the flask to Astrid.

"Where do you get all this alcohol from Wulf?" She asks before drinking and handing him the flask again.

He shrugs, drinking again before putting the flask back into his pocket. "I know people."

"You know people? Who did you screw this time?" Astrid laughs, earning a withering look from Wulf.

"You know those days are behind me. I am a one woman man now." He grins. "Now shut up and get the cake out. Before we all get drunk with our empty stomachs."

Astrid sighs, carefully removing a box from her satchel and opening the lid. "What he means is, happy birthday Bren." The cake is only just big enough for the three of them, with plain white icing and two candles, all she and Wulf could afford with their meagre allowances, but Bren grins at it still as though it’s a cake befitting of the King himself. One of the benefits of growing up in simple surroundings, you learn to be grateful for the small things. She hopes they never lose that, no matter how far their learning takes them.

Lounging back against the bookshelves with a slice of cake each, Wulf seems almost to swallow his whole, brushing his hands off on his cloak and reaching into his own satchel. "Here, thought this might come in handy." He says, handing Bren a rectangular parcel roughly wrapped in brown paper and string.

"You really didn’t have to get me a gift. You got me a cake."Bren tuts as he takes the present. Astrid takes her own gift from her satchel, a much more neatly wrapped package of indistinguishable shape in green and white paper and green string. He gives her an admonishing look which turns into a beaming smile. "I don’t deserve either of you."

"Shut up and open them." Wulf laughs. "You might hate them."

"Never." Bren answers distractedly, untying the string on Wulf's present first. Out of the mess of creased paper tumbles a leather bound book, the front, back and spine all blank.

"It’s for your spells. Figured since you’re such a book worm, you’d like that better than just noting them down on loose pieces of paper." Wulf shrugs, trying to appear nonchalant.

Bren picks it up and flicks through a few pages, then looks up to grin at Wulf. "It’s wonderful, thank you." Turning his attention to Astrid's gift, she tries not to fret that he won’t like it. He takes care not to rip the paper, his dexterous fingers untying the precise knots in the string with ease. Holding up the cobalt blue scarf he finds inside, he examines it with a slightly reverent smile. "Did you make this Astrid?"

"Yes." She answers timidly, grimacing. "Over the summer break. My mother helped, though admittedly only because she thought it was for Wulf. It’s not very good, I’m a clumsy knitter, but it was the best I could do."

"It’s perfect, I love it. I’ll wear it all the time., it’ll remind me of you." She does blush then, sticking her tongue out at Wulf when he whistles mockingly.

"What did your parents send you?" She asks.

"Writing supplies mostly, they know I’m always running out. Some new pairs of socks, a big chunk of Stollen, a jar of raspberry jam. Mother wrote me a long, long letter which boiled down to her being proud of me and that I’ll always be her little boy." He grimaces. "Father said she’s been struggling a bit with me being away from home. Empty nest syndrome he called it."

"You’ll go back home for the winter break, and they’ll sit you down to tell you there’s going to be a new little Ermendrud. You mark my words." Wulf grins gleefully. Bren wrinkles his nose up in disgust as Astrid nearly chokes on the last mouthful of her cake, trying in vane not to laugh.

"Wulf! They don’t have... they don’t do that anymore, they’re old!" Bren stutters.

"Old? They’re in their mid thirties Bren..." Astrid laughs.

"Exactly! Old!"

"Oh Bren... Bren, Bren, Bren..." Wulf tuts mockingly, grin splitting his face. "Put yourself in their shoes. Small house, thin walls, kid in the next room. And then suddenly, he’s gone. They can be as loud as they want. Hey, they don’t even have to keep it in the bedroom now that they don’t have to worry about you walking in on them! They could do it in the sitting room, the kitchen... on the stairs..."

"The stairs!" Astrid snorts giggling. "How?"

"Enough! Wulf stop, no!" Bren's laughing too now despite his disgust, waving a hand at the bigger boy, imploring him not to say anything more. "Why don’t you put your talent for telling horror stories to good use, instead of using it to torment me about my parents."

Wulf leans back against the shelves again, frowning in thought. "I think I can manage that. Though, this is sort of a true story. Partially anyway. Maybe... ok probably not, it sounds too dumb, but the guys I overheard talking about it the other day in the west courtyard seemed to believe it."

"Ok, I’m just going to say it now, it’s definitely not true." Astrid laughs. Wulf pulls a face at her.

"It could be." He says defensively. "I mean, yes it sounds like scheiße but it’s spooky scheiße which is what Bren wants so shut up." She leans back against the book shelves, smirking as she mimes zipping her lips closed.

"This had better be good Wulf, my whole birthday is riding on the quality of this scheiße spooky story." Bren grins.

"No pressure. Alright, so. They were talking about some kids who went missing a few years back, so of course, that got my attention."

"Missing from the Academy?" Astrid asks with a frown.

Wulf raises an eyebrow, repeating her mimed lip zipping. "Yes from the Academy, obviously..."

"How can that be true? Surely we’d all have heard about it?" Bren interjects.

"Yes, that’s what makes it so weird. I’ll get to that part anyway." Wulf sighs exasperatedly. "The story goes that they began to change, they got all morose and started going missing for days at a time, no one knew where they went and they’d never tell a soul. In fact, in the end, they stopped talking to anyone at all. They just used to wander the halls, appearing out of nowhere, and vanishing again, without explanation."

"Really..." Astrid rolls her eyes. “That’s not scary Wulf.”

"Shh." Wulf hisses gently as he boops her nose. She stares at him indignantly. "Anyway, a whole term went by and they went away for break. Then when they came back, it was like they were fine again. I mean, not fine, but better." He shrugs.

".....Worst horror story ever." Astrid mock yawns. Wulf glares before suddenly grabbing his cloak and dumping it over her head. "Wulf!" She cries, her voice muffled by the heavy burgundy wool.

"They say that’s when it all happened. Out of nowhere, one of the kids just plucked out his own eyes!" As Astrid wrestles the cloak from her head, hair hopelessly disheveled, she’s just in time to see Wulf pretending to yank his own eyeballs out, miming blood gushing everywhere. Bren breaks down in laughter.

"Bullshit Wulf..." she grumbles, tossing the cloak at him, though she can’t quite hide an amused smile at his antics.

"And then one of the other kids bashed his own head in against a wall!" He says enthusiastically, catching the cloak without batting an eyelid, turning to act out bashing his head against the book case behind him. "Blood and brains everywhere! They said that’s why the second level corridor in east block is painted red when all the others are that gross beige sort of colour, they couldn’t remove the blood stains completely."

"There are at least three corridors painted red in the Academy Wulf, were they all the site of some horrible brain bashing?" Astrid asks with a smug grin.

This time he thrusts his hand towards her face, covering her mouth without even looking at her. She squeaks in shock, glaring at him and crossing her arms, but not moving away. Bren snorts at their antics, shaking his head.

"And another kid, well he’s said to have taken a knife from the canteen and ripped open his own chest, then pulled out his heart and started to eat it! In front of everyone at lunch one day!" Again Wulf mimes the whole thing, taking an exaggerated bite and chew of the imagined heart in his free fist. Astrid rolls her eyes and licks his palm. He pulls his hand away with a grimace, wiping it on his shirt. "Gross..."

"You do realise that’s kind of just the story of Die Kinder und die Waldhexe, right?" She sighs.

"Uh, Ja sure, just without the Waldhexe, or the forest, or the parents, or pretty much any other aspect of it..." he says mockingly, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, so I did kind of embellish it a little, but that is what happened. Supposedly. And they did say there were definitely some kids that disappeared. It was all just hushed up. No one ever talks about it now. Weird huh?"

"So how did these kids know about it then, if no one ever talks about it?" Bren asks casually.

"....Has anyone ever told you two you’re really annoying." Wulf huffs. Bren and Astrid burst into laughter, Wulf breaking into a chuckle after a moment.

"What do you think you’re doing in here!?" A screeching voice suddenly shouts. The three of them jump, letting out a chorus of shrieks in unison. An angry looking halfling woman rounds one of the bookshelves, foot tapping impatiently, glaring at them crossly. "This is a library, not a place for socialising!"

Quickly gathering up their things and trying not to laugh, they vacate the library as fast as they can. The halfling librarian escorts them out into the wide corridor in a foul temper, slamming the large door behind them as they leave.

"Well that wasn’t very quiet of her." Bren grins, making Wulf and Astrid laugh, then hastily shushing each other while still chuckling.

"Did you have a good birthday Bren?" Astrid asks as they head out of the great double doors into the cold early evening breeze, arm in arm.

"The best." He answers with a lopsided smile. "Thank you. And your story was great Wulf. Complete rubbish, but great nonetheless."

"It was not rubbish, it’s true! Maybe..." Wulf laughs, his brief pretence at being offended slipping almost immediately.

"Then we’ll just have to steer clear of Waldhexe's and weird kids." Astrid nods to herself.

Bren and Wulf look at each other and shrug. "Sound advice Schatz." Bren says, kissing the top of her head. "Oh, one thing though Wulf..."

"What?"

Barely waiting for an answer, Bren grabs the back of Wulf's cloak and throws it up over his head, shrouding him in the garment, then running away as fast as he can.

"Scheiße! Bren!" Wulf's yells are muffled by the cloak, until he manages to claw it from his head and shove it back down. Upon seeing the other boy running, he laughs and gives chase, leaving Astrid behind in fits of giggles. "You know I’ll catch you Bren! You’re as slow as my grandmother!I’m going to put spiders in your bed kleine sheiße!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, pre warning, as you can imagine, there will be some smut next chapter. Only the same sort of level as been seen in other chapters, nothing very graphic, but if it’s not your thing you may want to skip next chapter!
> 
> Thanks for reading, the kudos and all the comments are a joy to read so thank you! And thank you for sticking with this if anyone still is!!!


	23. A New Chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been partially written in my head for a very long time. Feels good to finally get it out. NaNoWriMo is keeping me extra busy with this and other fics, so here’s hoping another update isn’t too far off.
> 
> This chapter has some smut, and along with it a warning for (I hope) relatively realistic first time experience. Any other potential warnings are covered in the fic tags. I really hope I got this right!
> 
> Thanks as ever for your kudos and very kind comments. I’m super excited that Caleb's real origin story is coming out next year! I believe it should be available from July, which gives me plenty of time to finish this version before cannon blows it out the water!

"Ok, so," Mura takes a deep breath, ready to relay the plan in minute detail. "I’ll be out with Renna and Merinda all afternoon, so you won’t have to worry about them coming back early. We’re going shopping. I’m going to make sure we visit as many dressmakers as we can find in the Vigil's Circle, then after that I’ll drag them off for refreshments and entertainment in the Court of Colours!" Mura reels off her plans as excitedly and quickly as Astrid expected. She can barely keep up, though in truth her mind isn’t really focussed much on the plan. Crammed into their tiny shared bathroom, whispering to keep the others from hearing, she feels more than a little bit dazed.

"Right, yes. Shopping and refreshments." She nods, trying to at least pretend she’s keeping up with all this.

"Yes. Meanwhile, Wulfy's going to keep Matron away."

"How?" Astrid asks. This is the one aspect of the plan she hasn’t heard anything of, unlike the shopping trip and Mura's many very detailed suggestions on exactly what she and Bren should do together...

Mura simply grins. "The less you know the better for now. But rest assured, she won’t be bothering you for a while." Astrid is less than convinced. In fact, the secrecy is even less reassuring than if she’d simply not asked at all.

"Come on Mura!" Renna calls from the other room, sounding impatient.

"On my way!" Mura shouts back. "I'd better get going. Oh, Astrid! It’s going to be wonderful, I’m sure it is! And if it’s not, that’s ok. Practice makes perfect." Without warning she pulls Astrid into a brief but tight hug. "Good luck!" And with that, she whirls around and rushes out. Astrid stays in the bathroom as the three other girls leave, laughing and chatting loudly as they go.

And then, suddenly, it’s quiet. She leans against the wash basin, listening to the sound of her own breath for a moment, trying to calm the nervous butterflies that have been roiling in her stomach all morning. Realising she’s trembling slightly, she gives herself a shake and takes a few gulps of cold water straight from the faucet. On legs that feel decidedly unsteady, she goes to sit on her bed to wait for Bren.

His knock at the door startles her when he arrives a few minutes later. She smiles nervously at him as he enters the room, closing the door quietly behind himself. "Hello Schatz." He says, sounding equally apprehensive.

"Hi." Is all the reply she can muster, barely able to look at him and flushing deep red.

He comes to sit beside her on the bed, leaving a good foot of space between them as though he’s afraid of crowding her. She averts her eyes down to her knees. She's certain she can feel him studying her with those eyes of his that seem to take in every detail of his surroundings. "You’re shaking." He says, sounding concerned. _Well, he always has been perceptive_ , she thinks to herself, taking a breath to try and steady her nerves.

"I’m... scared. Are you?"

"Very." He admits, chuckling awkwardly. 

"You are?" She asks, finally looking up at him. He nods earnestly, a bright pink flush creeping up over his neck. "What about?"

"Not doing a good job, embarrassing myself in front of you. Hurting you..." he winces slightly, looking down at his lap.

"Hurting me?"

"Ja. Wulf said it might... be a little painful for you."

"Ja. Mura had the same talk with me earlier. It’s ok though. It’s got to happen sooner or later, and that’s just a part of it." She wonders if the brave face she’s putting on looks as convincing as it sounds to her, which is not very in all honesty.

Bren looks back up at her, studying her face intently. "You’re not ready." He says eventually, shaking his head with a sigh. "I should never have let them push you into this."

"Nobody's pushing me into anything Bren." She scoots over to him, taking one of his hands in hers. "And yes, I am scared. I’m really, really scared honestly. But that’s normal, I think. And it’s ok to be scared because this is a big thing. A new chapter in our lives in a way. It’s a huge step we’re taking, both of us. This isn’t just about me anyway, how are you feeling? Are you sure you're ready?"

He pauses for a moment, then looks away with a little smile and a shrug, as though embarrassed. "Apart from scared I’m feeling... excited, I guess. I suppose I want to see what all the fuss is about. I’m ready, I have been in theory for a while, it’s just that... in theory isn’t the same as in practice. It feels right though. I want you Schatz."

Astrid gives his hand a squeeze, swallowing hard at the warmth that spreads through her at his last statement. "Wulf and Mura seem to like it quite a lot. It must be pretty good to be worth risking washing up duty with Matron."

Bren laughs nervously, gently taking her other hand and rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles. "You’re sure you’re ready? It’s ok if you’re not Astrid. You know I’ll wait for however long you need. I love you."

In answer, she leans up to kiss him. Then, looking him straight in the eye, with trembling fingers she begins to unbutton his shirt. "If you’re ready, I’m ready. Now let’s stop dithering and make the most of our time together."

In the months they’ve been together, they’ve at the very least already seen every inch of each other already. They haven’t exactly been shy about exploring each other either, and as she unfastens Bren's trousers, Astrid has a vivid flashback to being on her knees for him on a summer night in a certain birch copse. The confidence she felt then as she pleasured him without shame is certainly missing in action now.

Undressing is a tentative affair for both of them. Barely looking each other in the eye, blushes a fixed feature on their cheeks, fumbling fingers making a mess of buttons and catches causing frequent bouts of nervous laughter. But eventually, clothes laying abandoned on the floor around Astrid's bed, they climb under the covers together.

"I feel like that might be the most difficult bit done." Bren says as he nuzzles against her neck, pulling her close.

Astrid giggles. "We can only hope."

Bren lifts his head to look at her, and suddenly they’re back to avoiding each other’s eyes and blushing. "You can still back out if you want to." He says quietly. "I mean it Astrid."

Smiling, she finds the courage to look him in the eyes, raising a hand to stroke his cheek. "I know you do. And that’s just one of the reasons I want this. I trust you Bren."

"And I trust you." He turns his head to kiss her palm, chuckling nervously. "All those times I’ve wanted to be here with you like this and now I am and I don’t know what to do." She raises an eyebrow at him quizzically. "I mean... I know what to do! Obviously I understand the mechanics..." his blush is almost the same shade as his hair. Astrid giggles, leaning up to kiss him. He sighs against her lips, closing his eyes and nuzzling her nose. "I just don’t know how to get from here to there smoothly. All those times before seemed so natural. This is..."

"Awkward?" Astrid offers, seeing him struggle for words.

"Exactly."

"Well, I have a suggestion." She says, threading her fingers into his hair. "We do what we were doing when it felt natural, and we take it from there." She pulls him down for a searing kiss, her confidence growing from his uncertainty. He moans into her mouth, and finally seems to start to relax.

They get lost in kisses and touches, revelling in finally being alone together in a bed. After months of only partial nudity and fumbling under clothes, the skin on skin contact alone is intoxicating. Despite all their nerves and the awkward start, in the end Astrid is surprised by just how easily it all falls into place. Just a quick roll of his hips and all the worrying feels as though it was over nothing. It just feels right.

He grips her hand tight as she grimaces after a few short thrusts, pausing in his movements. She can see how much effort it takes, with his breath coming in quick short pants and pupils blown wide despite the concern on his face. She kisses him languidly, glad that she managed to hold back the whimper that threatened at the sudden sharp pain Mura had warned she might feel. Sharp, but fading already.

"I’m ok, I promise. Keep going." She whispers against his lips. He watches her intently as he complies, eyes full of worry and moving slower than before. With the pain soon all but gone and Bren still treating her as though she’s made of glass, she crosses her ankles behind his hips, pressing them forward to urge him on. He laughs breathlessly at her impatience, gradually increasing his pace. The pain becomes little more than a dull ache, present but easy to ignore, especially with the other sensations she feels, including a slowly building pleasure that takes her by surprise. After what Mura had told her about first times, she hadn’t been expecting that.

It doesn’t take long before Bren's moans reach a pitch Astrid has heard many times before, his rhythm faltering. She digs her fingernails lightly into his shoulders and undulates her hips, sending him over the edge with a guttural groan.

They lay together in silence for a while after in a tangle of limbs, Astrid stroking the back of one of his calves with her toes, Bren tracing arcane symbols over her side.

"No wonder Wulf and Mura are at it every spare minute they have." Astrid says eventually, stretching out her aching muscles. "Sex is really quite good isn’t it."

"You enjoyed it then?" He asks, uncertainly. "Only you didn’t... you know."

"Hated every moment." She grins cheekily. "You don’t have to " _you know_ " to enjoy it Bren. There'll be plenty of time for that anyway. We’re about to get a lot less studying done in our Folsen morning study period, that’s for sure. Just as long as we can find some privacy again that is."

He grins lopsidedly, leaning in to kiss her softly. "I love you Astrid Beck. You're incredible."

"I love you too Bren Ermendrud." She rubs her nose against his, finding his lips again for a slow kiss.

After a time, they finally decide to get up and dress, concerned they may be pushing the limits of their alone time. Astrid, feeling bold, doesn’t even attempt to cover herself as she gets out of the bed and begins to collect up their scattered items of clothing from the floor.

"Scheiße! Astrid..." Bren exclaims suddenly. She turns, frowning at him in concern.

"What is it? What’s wrong?"

He gestures to the sheets, peering down at something worriedly. "You’re hurt?"

Coming over to him, she deposits the pile of clothing in her arms onto the bed, sitting beside him. She flushes bright red when she sees what he’s looking at, a few tiny drops of crimson staining the white sheet where they’d been laying. "Oh.. no, Bren it’s alright. Mura said that could happen sometimes. It’s just where... the pain I felt..."

He looks at her with such sorrow it makes her heart clench. "I’m sorry."

She smiles at him, trying to lighten the mood and reassure him. "It wasn’t you, not really. You didn’t do anything wrong Bren, it’s just what happens. Everything’s alright, honest." She hopes Mura was right about that at least, it is slightly unnerving to see the blood, even just a tiny amount. She wishes suddenly that she could even have entertained the idea of talking to her mother about this sort of stuff, rather than just relying on a friend. _Ah well,_ she thinks to herself, trying to stay upbeat, _no point wishing for things that won’t happen._

Bren looks unconvinced but lets it go, separating out his clothes from the pile of garments next to them and shrugging into his shirt. Astrid suppresses a sigh at their time together seeming so short, and begins to dress herself too. She’s just doing up the buttons on her blouse when there’s a rap at the door. The unmistakable sharp three beat knock of Matron.

Astrid stares at Bren, who stares right back, the two stilling their hands on buttons and fasteners in sudden dread. Outside they hear giggling. "Only kidding, it’s just me!" Mura's muffled voice calls from the other side of the door. Astrid sighs exasperatedly, rising to open it for her.

"Mura! You nearly killed us both. Where are Renna and Merinda?"

"They wanted to shop for a bit longer, I thought I’d come and check how you two were getting on. They’ll be back soon but I couldn’t keep them occupied any longer, they were starting to get a little intense with the stares and the eye rolls." She rolls her own eyes exasperatedly. Astrid continues to do up her blouse buttons as the other girl talks. "So... how was it?" Mura grins.

Astrid laughs. "No."

"Wait, no Astrid come on, you have to tell me!" Mura pouts. Behind her she hears Bren snort a laugh. "How about just nod once if it was good, twice if it was bad." Astrid shakes her head with a grin and closes the door. "Astrid come on!" She hears, Mura's pleading voice muffled again. "Fine, but I’m going to get it out of you some time! I need details!"

"She is something else." Bren says as Mura's footsteps retreat down the hallway, coming to kiss her on the cheek before sitting to put his socks on.

Astrid digs a stocking out of the rapidly diminishing pile of clothes and sits next to him to put it on. "Ja, but I kind of like her. And you know, we never would have been able to do this without her." Bren looks at her with a grin, leaning in to kiss her again.

A short while later, fully dressed and feeling on top of the world, the pair leave the dorm and make their way towards the dining hall. "Do you know what Wulf was doing to distract Matron?" Astrid asks.

"Not a clue. He wouldn’t tell me." Bren frowns. "Hopefully not something too awful."

She laughs. "No doubt he’ll tell us all the grizzly details as soon as he needs a favour in return."

"I can’t wait..." he answers dryly.

************

A few days later, the three of them are in Arcane Theory class when a first year student with a noteknocks timidly on the open door.

"Come." Professor Ghenjei says in a deep monotone, not looking up from the stack of papers he's been marking on his desk while the class works on a set of equations he set them. Astrid barely notices as the nervous student makes their way to the desk and hands him a note before making a hasty retreat.

"You three," he says with a sigh, "Eodwulf, Astrid, Bren. You’ve been summoned to the Head of Year. You’re to pack up your things and go to Professor Bashere's office immediately." They share startled looks, quickly gathering their belongings into their satchels and making their way out.

"What are we supposed to have done this time?" Bren asks, looking pointedly at Wulf.

"Don’t look at me!" He says, holding his hands up in defence. "I’m innocent for once."

Bren looks unconvinced. "Well there must be some reason she wants to see us, and you don’t get called out of class to see the Head of Year for anything good. Has this got to do with you distracting Matron the other day?"

Wulf narrows his eyes in concentration, seeming to be searching his memory. "No." He says eventually. "No, I don’t think so. If they knew about that, we’d be seeing the headmaster." He manages to keep a straight face while they turn to him wide eyed, before finally cracking with a deep laugh. "I love letting you two stew. You’re so easy to wind up." Astrid and Bren roll their eyes at him, the three of them walking the rest of the short distance through the corridors in silence.

When they reach the ominous oak panelled door of Bashere's office, they find it open, the Professor standing inside with her arms crossed waiting for them. "Ah, you three. Come in, come in." She doesn’t seem angry as she ushers them in, but then Astrid can’t take much comfort in that, she can’t imagine the mild mannered Professor being anything more than mildly cross. _Sometimes that’s worse..._ she thinks to herself, swallowing hard.

She nervously files into the office alongside Bren and Wulf. Wracking her brain, she cant think what the three of them could have done to warrant this visit. Thinking about it, she’s convinced this must be the result of one of the other students, perhaps Renna or Merinda, telling tales to get them into trouble. She prepares as much of a defence as possible without knowing the charge, ready to deny whatever accusation is thrown their way. This wouldn’t exactly be the first time something like that has happened.

"I’m sure you must be wondering what this is about." Professor Bashere smiles at them. "There’s no need to be nervous. You’ve all been doing very well by all accounts, which in a way is what this concerns. I am to take you to Arch Mage Trent Ikithon. He would like to ask you something." She marches past them to the door, holding it open and seeming quite eager.

The three of them exchange looks, the meeting certainly not going as they had expected. Once they’re in the corridor again, Bren takes Astrid's hand, stroking his thumb over her knuckles supportively.

"Professor," he says as she leads them down the hall at a brisk walk. "Can I ask what it is Master Ikithon wants to see us about?"

"An opportunity." She replies, turning back to glance at them with a beaming smile. "That’s all he’d say on the matter and I didn’t press him. When an Arch Mage asks to see three students he’s very impressed with, one doesn’t tend to ask too many questions."

Astrid looks at the two boys in shock, mouth gaping.

"Impressed with us?" Wulf asks. "What did we do?"

Professor Bashere laughs lightly, seeming amused. "You do know how good your test scores are? It’s true, you’ve had your fair share of run ins with authority over the past year and a half, but that just shows spirit in my book." She waves a hand dismissively, turning sharply down a side corridor. Astrid almost has to jog to keep up with the long-limbed woman. "Not that I’m condoning your escapades of course. But in terms of academic work, you apply yourselves well. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed how well you conduct yourselves in the face of incessant harassment by other students."

"You know about that?" Bren asks, surprised.

"Of course. Not a lot escapes my notice Master Bren. Your previous head of year may have been happy to turn a blind eye, but I do things differently. Rest assured I am aware, and I'll intervene where appropriate. But your simple upbringing will always be with you and, unfortunately, to many of the other students it counts against you. Better you learn to deal with it now than when you’re older and your critics are more harsh. Ah, this way." She makes another quick turn, heading into a wide, well decorated hallway lit with gold plated stand lamps, the walls hung with rich tapestries and portraits. They pass a dozen large, imposing white lacquered doors before coming to an abrupt stop outside one at the furthest end of the hall. Professor Bashere knocks twice, making a sharp rapping sound with her knuckles.

The door opens a fraction seemingly in response. Professor Bashere turns to them with a broad smile. "Well, good luck." She says eagerly, before departing with steps just as quick as those on the way there.

The three of them stand before the door, looking at each other nervously.

"Do we go in?"Astrid whispers.

"I don’t know." Wulf answers, looking worried and keeping his voice low. "What if it’s a trick and he’ll get really cross if we just barge in?"

"Why would he do that?" Astrid scoffs quietly.

"I don’t know, maybe he has nothing better to do? Maybe we need to announce ourselves first or something." Wulf shrugs, not looking convinced.

Bren sighs, takes a breath, and pushes the door open.

The room is larger than Astrid had anticipated, a long, wide study lined on three of its double height walls with book shelves, gleaming black and white floor tiles covered with a huge red, green and black maze patterned rug. The walls are made of dressed stone, unadorned save for the massive book shelves. A large dark wood carved desk sits at the opposite end of the room, and behind it, sitting in a green leather studded chair, his deep purple and gold robes immaculate, is Arch Mage Trent Ikithon. 

"Come, sit." He smiles, gesturing to three sturdy looking chairs spread out in a line opposite the desk. They cross the floor quickly, not wanting to keep him waiting. As soon as they’re seated, he continues, peering at them with something in his eyes that Astrid can’t quite place. "The three of you have shown quite convincingly that you have a talent for the arcane. It won’t surprise you that, in my time working closely with the Soltryce Academy, I have seen many a talented student pass through those doors. Many even more capable than you. However, the vast majority of them lacked something."

He rises from his chair, coming around the desk to perch on the side facing them, hands clasped at his waist. "You three are special. Unique perhaps. There is something undefinable about you which makes you stand out. That is something I have been able to say about very few students. Very few people in general, in fact. I have been watching your journey through the Academy quite closely, and it is my firm belief that you are destined for great things." Astrid is sure his eyes linger on Bren for a long moment before sweeping over all three of them again. "Yours is a talent that must be nurtured carefully in order to bring it to its greatest potential. To squander it would be a heinous crime. So. I have a proposal for you."

"A proposal, Master Ikithon?" Bren says, his throat sounding as dry as Astrid's feels.

Master Ikithon smiles again, a thin lipped smile with little warmth. Why would that matter? Astrid silently chastises herself, concentrating on what’s being said. "An opportunity. I would like to offer you the chance to study directly under me. With my personal tutelage, your training at the Academy could be accelerated and your current potential surpassed. It would mean taking extra classes, your schedule would be more intense, but I have absolutely no concerns that you would struggle with that, having seen your achievements so far."

Astrid is speechless, and glancing at Bren and Wulf, they see, to be too.

"I see I have surprised you." Master Ikithon nods to himself, standing to make his way back around to the other side of the desk, to sit in his chair again. "But of course, you never could have imagined such an opportunity would be presented to you. You are humble people, it is an asset to lack arrogance. But do not make the mistake of also lacking confidence in your abilities. As I said, you are quite special."

Standing, he gestures for them to stand too, which they do immediately, and begins to lead them towards the door. "You'll need time to consider my proposal, of course. Only fools leap into the unknown without first considering carefully, and you are far from foolish. You may have a week. After that I will need to begin to identify other potential candidates, you understand. But please know, I would very much like to have you under my wing."

"Thank you Master Ikithon." They all say in discordant unison as they reach the door, walking out into the corridor in a daze.

"You are welcome. Consider my proposal carefully, I can promise you, it will be very much worth your while. Auf Wiedersehen." He says with a polite incline of his head before closing the door behind them.

They begin to make their way back down the corridor, seeming unable to speak for a while. The bell signalling the end of the academic day sounds, ringing through the maze of tile floored corridors around them. Astrid thinks that’s probably a good thing, since she can barely concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other at the moment, let alone class.

"Well," Bren says eventually. "That was quite something." Astrid and Eodwulf nod, frowning. "What do you think we should do?"

"I know he says we can handle it, but more work?" Wulf says, grimly. "I don’t know."

"He seems to believe us capable." Bren reasons, shrugging.

Astrid bites her lip. The extra work is a concern, but can they really afford to turn down such an incredible opportunity? What might it mean for their lives? "I think we should accept."

"So do I." Bren smiles at her. Wulf still looks unconvinced. "Come on Wulf, what’s there to think about? If it’s too much, I’m sure you could just give it up, he’s hardly going to force you to continue with extra tutelage if it’s not right for you is he?"

Wulf nods thoughtfully, seeming to brighten at that. "That’s true. I still need some time. You heard him, he wants us to consider it carefully, not jump in. We have a week, we should use it."

"Good point. Let’s let it sink in first, then we can decide properly." Astrid smiles up at them.

Bren beams are her. "He had such good things to say about us. It’s nice to hear something positive for a change. But from a _Cerberus Assembly Arch Mage?_ It’s crazy."

Astrid feels her pride swell a little. It really is amazing. "Let’s go to the library. I think we could all do with some space away from everyone else to really think this through."

"What do you think they’ll do when they find out?" Wulf asks, grinning.

Bren smirks. "Be extremely jealous I should think. Who knows, perhaps they’ll start giving us some respect finally."

Astrid isn’t sure about that, but as she takes Bren's hand and they begins the long climb up the stairs to their usual spot in the library, she starts to wonder if maybe things are about to get a whole lot better for the three of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (We finally got a last name for Astrid, woo!)


	24. The First Snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you NaNo for making me write this so quick. I’ve got part of ch 25 ready to go too. Going to try to get these out a bit faster now, because I’ve been writing this for a year now and that’s ridiculous!

Astrid sighs contentedly, arching to stretch out her back. Bren yawns, loosening his arms around her to accommodate her movement, before tightening them to pull her close again when she’s done. She enjoys these relaxed weekend mornings at the best of times, but with a pristine layer of snow on the rooftops of Rexxentrum, and a bitter wind blowing in from the north rattling the panes of glass in the windows, she’s more pleased than usual to be under the covers with him. The building housing the Academy dorms boasts thickly insulated stone walls, but without individual fireplaces in each room, they aren’t exactly warm at this time of year, especially in the mornings.

It’s been two days since their meeting with Master Ikithon, and Astrid is more certain than ever that her mind is made up. Whatever the boys decide, she plans to go to Master Ikithon's office at the earliest opportunity on Miresen to accept his offer. She's fairly certain Bren will be doing the same, but Wulf is still not sure by his own admission.

She turns her head and looks over to him, his bed the other side of the short gap beside Bren's. His head is nearly obscured by the thick quilt pulled up past his ears, but she can see enough of him to know that he’s sleeping. That and his soft, muffled snores.

Bren is only dozing. She nuzzles his chest, kissing him through his night shirt, and he responds with a kiss to the top of her head. "I could stay here all day." She whispers, snuggling down further under the invitingly warm covers.

"That’s not like you." He chuckles sleepily. "Usually you can’t wait to drag us out of bed and get outside."

"Are you complaining?" She looks up at him, cocking an eyebrow.

He snorts. "No. It must only be about thirty degrees out there."

She shakes her head amusedly. "Blumenthal kids practically live outdoors all year round. A year at this fancy school and you’ve become soft Bren Ermendrud."

"I beg to differ..." he smirks, pressing his morning erection against her leg. She rolls her eyes, giving him a withering look.

"You know exactly what I meant. It’s made you soft _and_ more randy than Wulf. That’s quite an impressive combination."

"No one is more randy than Wulf." They look up just as Eodwulf throws himself from his own bed onto Bren’s, landing half on top of the pair of them. Astrid giggles as he grabs them up in a bone crushing hug through the quilt. "You two are so small." He says, poking at Bren's chest. Bren struggles to sit up, Wulf finally moving off to perch on the edge of the bed beside Astrid.

"I thought you were asleep?" She asks, stretching out again after being squashed.

"I was, until you two started talking." He yawns, not even trying to cover his mouth.

Bren flexes his shoulder, the joint clicking with a startlingly loud pop. "And jumping on us is fair game?" He asks, the hint of a grin betraying his amusement.

"Be flattered, I don’t jump on just anyone you know." He winks.

Astrid and Bren scoff in unison. "You absolutely do." She laughs. He shrugs, grinning. There’s a loud rustling of sheets and a huff as one of the other two boys resident in the dorm pointedly rolls over with a pillow clasped to his head.

"Sorry Matin." Bren whispers loudly in apology. Matin grunts in acknowledgement, Cristin, the boy in the other bed, appearing to be asleep still.

"Let’s leave them to their lie in." Astrid extricates herself from the sheets, climbing over Wulf to stand on the cold floorboards and put on her slippers. She quickly shrugs into the woefully thin cotton robe she abandoned at the bottom of the bed when she got in, hugging her arms around herself against the uncomfortable chill of the room.

"And go where?" Bren asks with a near pout. "I thought you wanted to stay here with me for the whole day."

Raising an eyebrow at him, she hands him his own robe. "First off, you know we couldn’t actually do that, since Matron will be doing her rounds in another hour or so and we’d be caught. I’d rather not waste my time stuck doing a weeks worth of washing up again. Second, it’s the first snowfall of the winter. You remember what happens the day of the first snowfall of the winter here?"

"Snow war." Wulf grins eagerly. "You two are going down."

Bren sighs, flopping back down into the bed. Astrid raises an eyebrow, throwing the robe over his head. "What if I don’t want a snow war?" He says, voice muffled beneath the robe.

"You don’t get to choose the snow war my friend, the snow war chooses you." Wulf smirks. "Don’t be such a loser, how many old traditions in this place are actually fun? Every student will be out in the grounds smashing each other in the face with balls of snow and ice, plus the occasional accidental pebble. What’s not to love?"

Astrid sits back down beside him, pulling the robe off Bren's head and revealing his auburn hair adorably mussed. "Come on Bren. It’ll be fun. You know you’ll enjoy it." He scowls up at them both still looking unconvinced. She sighs. "What if I promise to make it worth your while?" She smiles, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

Wulf chuckles suddenly. "Give him a snow blow." Astrid opens her mouth indignantly, smacking him on the arm as he continues to laugh at his own joke, her cheeks colouring. Bren sniggers, finally sitting up again.

"I meant a kiss! You two are terrible..." She whines, seeing the funny side and laughing along with them both. From the other side of the room comes an exasperated groan. "Ok really, let’s get dressed and leave your poor roommates alone. Meet me outside mine in ten?"

The boys nod, getting up to begin dressing as Astrid hurries out into the cold hallway to go to her own dorm.

************

A few hours later a large proportion of the students, many bleary eyed given that it's a Da'leysen morning, are gathered in the wide courtyard in front of the marble steps leading up to the main Academy building. A number of faculty members stand atop the steps, behind Headmaster Zivan Margolin. The Headmaster raises his hand, clasping a pristine white lace handkerchief. The large crowd of youngsters in the courtyard falls silent, a number of the teachers also clearly brimming with excitement.

"They really take this scheiße seriously don’t they." Bren mutters, only just loud enough for her and Wulf to hear. "Rich people are weird." Astrid just manages to bite back a laugh.

"Who cares about some dumb tradition." Wulf grins. "I’m in it purely to smash people we hate in the face with snow." He rubs his hands together with malicious glee.

"It has long been an Academy tradition to take part in this event once the first snowfall of winter is upon us." The Headmaster says, voice booming among the students, clearly magically enhanced. "The honour falls to me to begin the festivities this year, owing to the tragic passing of my father, who as you all know, was a staunch supporter and accomplished Headmaster of this establishment for many years. As he would have said to you all, fight fair, fight safely, and above all, enjoy yourselves."

With that, Headmaster Margolin releases his grip on the handkerchief, and before the lace has even floated down to the floor, a roar goes up among the students and the battle begins. Astrid just manages to duck in time to avoid a snowball Wulf had preprepared without her knowing, but Bren takes a second right in the nose.

"Wulf!" She screeches, half indignant, half laughing at Bren. "You’re a cheat! Fight fair he said, and what happened to ' _people we hate_ '?"

"It’s me, don’t pretend you’re surprised." He grins, grabbing her in a fireman's lift while Bren is still spluttering, a hefty amount of snow having gone in his mouth.

"Put me down you lummox!" She kicks her legs, hair dangling down over her face obscuring her view. He trudges barely a few steps in the snow before depositing her soundly in a drift beside a hedge. She gasps as the snow surrounds her, falling into the cuffs of her coat, the tops of her boots and down the back of her neck past her scarf.

Scrambling to her feet, she just manages to right herself in time to see Wulf, doubled over laughing at her, get pelted by a mound of flying snow that seems to stop in midair and drop straight on top of his head. Bren stands grinning at them both.

"Catapult." He says, as Wulf turns to look at him indignantly. "Ah the beauty of magical snow fights."

"You think you’re the only one who picked his spells especially for today Ermendrud?" Wulf shakes the snow off of himself, readying his hands to cast. Astrid beats him to it, summoning Mage Hand to dump a good helping of snow on top of him.

"Now who’s cheating! You can’t gang up on me." He whinges, brushing snow from his hair.

"You started this." She laughs.

"Truce, truce! We should be working together anyway. Has anyone seen Ferdinard? I have a Floating Disk full of snow with his name of it. All you need to do is lure him to the bottom of the steps for me so the disk can move above his head height, and bam!"

Astrid laughs. She can’t fault his ingenuity. To her right, Bren suddenly turns, a snowball sliding off an invisible force field in front of him.

"Don’t cast Shield, it’s only snow. You only have one slot left now." Wulf tuts, quickly gathering a handful of hastily rolled snow to fend off the laughing first year student that attempted to attack him, Astrid doing the same.

"Looks like it’s not just the rich people who take this thing too seriously after all." Bren laughs, behind her, running to keep up with them.

*********

Astrid watches from behind the cover of a laurel hedge as her invisible Unseen Servant dumps a double handful of snow on Renna's head. The girl squeals, wrongly identifying the nearby Merinda as her attacker, and kicking snow up at her friend in a tantrum.

Wulf and Bren chuckle beside her. "I love magic so much." She grins.

There’s a sudden boom off to one side and a shower of snow and dirt surges into the air, covering the three of them. They struggle to their feet shaking off the mess, looking around for what caused it. Ferdinard wanders around the side of the hedge laughing. Bren glares at him, gesturing to the muddy crater barely ten feet away. "What was that? Magic Missile?"

"Not as stupid as you look hick. And you do look very stupid." The young elf sneers. Merinda and Renna stumble around the hedge to stand behind him, glaring. Astrid can’t help but send her Unseen Servant over again to dump more snow on their heads. They inhale sharply at the shock, Renna casting Mage Hand and yanking a handful of Astrid's hair back painfully.

"I don’t care which of you is doing that, whoever it is stop it or we’ll do worse than this to her when she comes back to the dorm tonight." She threatens between gritted teeth.

"We probably will anyway." Merinda shrugs, she and Ferdinard smirking.

Astrid tugs her hair free with a wince. "What’s the point in stopping if you’re going to hurt me anyway." The Unseen Servant scoops up two more handfuls of snow and dumps it on Renna's head. She immediately regrets it, wondering what’s got in to her. _This is just like that time in the library again, and look how that turned out, I nearly got thrown out of a window. When am I going to learn..._

"You three really need to learn some respect." Ferdinard grimaces, stepping forward and readying his hands to cast.

Wulf leaps towards him without warning and tackles him to the ground, stirring up a cloud of powdery snow. Ferdinard grunts as he lands with Wulf's weight on top of him. "Maybe it's _you_ who needs to learn to respect _us_." He says, grabbing hold of the other boys hands to stop him casting. Renna and Merinda stare at them in shock as Ferdinard thrashes uselessly.

"Get off of me!" He shouts indignantly.

Wulf calmly sits them both up, dragging Ferdinard's arms behind his back and holding his wrists together in one large hand. "Guess who's about to start extra classes under the direct tutelage of Arch Mage Ikithon?"

Ferdinard's eyes widen in surprise. "What? Why would he lower himself like that? You’re making it up."

"It’s true." Bren says, crossing his arms. "Apparently he thinks we’re uniquely talented. He says we have bright futures ahead of us and he wants to help us reach our full potential."

"So, Ferdi-fuck. Who knows. Maybe one day we’ll be more powerful than you after all, without needing to fall back on titles and money to do it." Wulf grins at him.

Ferdinard scoffs. "You can dress a pig in velvet, but it’s still just a pig. That’s all you’ll ever be no matter who teaches you. A couple of country pigs pretending to fit in with the rest of us."

Wulf rolls his eyes, slaps his free hand on the back of Ferdinard's head, and shoves his face into the snow. The elf makes a muffled shout, Wulf letting him go and standing up, brushing off his coat. Astrid and Bren chuckle as Ferdinard flails, sitting back up with his face covered in snow and ice. Renna and Merinda don’t seem to know whether to laugh or glare.

That’s what’s changed in her, Astrid realises. Hearing someone so senior recognise her worth. Master Ikithon's offer has boosted her confidence, and she hasn’t even accepted yet. "You can keep on treating us like dirt," she says to the two girls, "but just be aware, one day it might come back to bite you."

The three of them walk away after that, only reaching a short distance before Wulf can’t help himself and gathers up fresh handfuls of snow to throw at her and Bren.

"So," she calls, dodging a snowball and throwing one of her own. "Does this mean you’ve decided to take Master Ikithon's offer then Wulf?"

"I think it does." He shouts back, hitting Bren in the head with a lump of snow as he crouches to pick up more.

Astrid laughs, spitting out snow as another snowball hits her right in the mouth and sends her falling onto her back. Still chuckling, she takes a moment to make a snow angel as she watches Bren chase the larger boy, throwing his own snow balls in retaliation before Wulf turns and tackles him, the two of them laughing as they try to cover each other in as much snow as possible. By the time Astrid gets up and moves over to them, shoving a handful of snow down the neck of Wulf's coat in retaliation, it’s clear Bren has well and truly lost the battle, barely more than his boots and hair showing through the heap of snow on top of him, which wobbles as he laughs.

When Astrid returns to her dorm that night, she finds her mattress soaked through, Renna and Merinda watching her smugly from their beds on the other side of the room. She sighs. So much for things getting better with them. But as she gathers her still mostly dry quilt and pillow, and prepares for an uncomfortable night on the floor, she finds she can’t feel too down about it.

Tomorrow, all three of them will accept Master Ikithon's offer, and along with it, the chance at a very bright future.

***************

"So," Master Ikithon smiles as they step into his office the next morning, steepling his long fingers on the desk in front of him. "You have your answer?"

Bren glances at her and Eodwulf and steps forward. "We do. We’d be honoured to accept Master Ikithon. More than honoured."

The Arch Mage nods approvingly. "Good, good. I am glad to hear it. The honour is all mine of course, I look forward to tutoring such talented students." He stands, walking to one of the bookshelves on the right hand side of the room, tapping a finger against his lips as he selects three books. "Meet me here after lunch on Conthsen for your introductory lesson, I will show you to the classrooms we will be using. For now we will be meeting on Conthsen and Folsen afternoons, when you would previously have had study sessions. Read these before that first session please. They will give you some idea of what I hope to cover in the next few weeks."

He hands the books to Bren, who's eyes widen in surprise when he reads the covers. As he passes one to her and Wulf each, she can see why. "Master Ikithon, these are texts used by third year students." Astrid says hesitantly.

"Yes." The Arch Mage says patiently, folding his arms. "You doubt your ability still I see. Let this give you cause to stop doubting. Read the texts, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by how easily you take them in."

"Yes Master Ikithon." They reply together, bowing their heads and exiting the room swiftly.

"He wants us to read _three_ whole books in three days? This is exactly the sort of thing I was worried about." Wulf shakes his head, slipping his book into his satchel.

"Relax." Says Bren, calmly putting away his own book. "You heard him. If he has faith in us, we should have faith too shouldn’t we?"

Astrid flips through a few pages of the book she’s still holding as the others continue their debate. It's not a thick tome at least, but the Arcane equations look more complex than anything they’ve attempted before. She sighs, seeing the test the Arch Mage has set for them. "All we can do is our best." She says when Bren and Eodwulf fall silent. "And we’re at our best when we work together."

"Group study sessions for the rest of the week then?" Bren asks with a smile.

Wulf grins. "I’ll get the ale, you get the snacks."


End file.
